According to reporting by The Independent and Bangladeshi news outlets including Ajker Patrika, two critically endangered ring-tailed lemurs stolen from Bangladesh have been located at Vantara, a private wildlife conservation center in Jamnagar, Gujarat, operated by India’s billionaire Ambani family.

The animals were part of a trio stolen from the Gazipur Safari Park in March 2025. Investigating officers from Bangladesh’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) revealed that the lemurs had originally arrived in Bangladesh via Dhaka airport in 2018 through fraudulent customs documentation before being confiscated and placed at the safari park.

Court testimony and investigation records show that a local security guard aided wildlife traffickers in stealing the animals. The lemurs were smuggled across the Darshana border in Chuadanga into India with the help of a border lineman and passed through a network of intermediaries before being sold for approximately Rs 4.8 million (£50,400) to an institution connected to Vantara. To date, six out of eight suspects in the cross-border smuggling racket have recorded confessions before a local court.

Bangladeshi officials identified the animals after social media photos surfaced showing the lemurs inside the Vantara facility. Dhaka has formally sought Interpol’s assistance to repatriate the animals. However, the process is complicated because Gazipur Safari Park failed to microchip, register, or store DNA profiles for the lemurs. To legally verify ownership, authorities are currently conducting DNA profiling on a remaining juvenile lemur in Bangladesh to prove a familial link to the pair in India.

Conceived by Anant Ambani and inaugurated by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in March 2025, the 3,500-acre Vantara facility is run by the Radhe Krishna Temple Elephant Welfare Trust and backed by Reliance Industries. The center has drawn skepticism from global animal rights organizations regarding its acquisition practices and sourcing of rare species, alongside existing import inquiries from European Union and German regulators. Vantara has previously rejected all allegations of wrongdoing, calling them "entirely false and baseless".


- Image used for representation