Police chief Ruddi Setiawan holds the two-year-old orangutan Russian Andrei Zhestkov (centre) is accused of trying to smuggle out of Bali Photo: APIndonesian police say they have found geckos and chameleons in the luggage of a Russian tourist arrested for allegedly trying to smuggle a drugged orangutan out of Bali. Andrei Zhestkov was detained on Friday at Bali's international airport after security officers found a 2-year-old endangered male orangutan sleeping in a rattan basket in his luggage. Police showed the suspect along with the lizards and other evidence at a news conference on Monday. Local police chief Ruddi Setiawan said Zhestkov had confessed that he bought the orangutan for $US3000 ($NZ4300) from a street market on Indonesia's main island of Java. "We are still investigating his motive in attempting to smuggle the orangutan out of Indonesia," Setiawan said.

Source: Otago Daily Times March 25, 2019 21:22 UTC