Bangladesh’s efforts to trace and repatriate two ring-tailed lemurs reportedly taken to India after being stolen from Gazipur Safari Park face cross-border hurdles, with officials saying further investigation and their return depend on an agreement between the two countries.

Tracing the lemurs’ last known destination remains challenging, while their repatriation is uncertain as there is no protocol for their return under the existing mutual understanding between Bangladesh and India, environmental science and conservation news outlet Mongabay reported on Thursday.

Sufi Ullah, special superintendent of police at the Criminal Investigation Department of Bangladesh Police, the agency investigating the theft, told Mongabay on September 13 that cross-border investigation was not possible despite a court order for further investigation following the availability of a DNA profile.

“Even though Bangladesh court orders further probe following the availability of the DNA profile, cross-border investigation is impossible,” he said.

Mohammed Mizanur Rahman, director of the Bangladesh Forest Department’s Wildlife Crime Control Unit (WCCU), said further investigation and repatriation would depend on an agreement between the two governments.

“Further investigation and repatriation of the lemurs may follow only if the governments of the two countries agree to do so,” he said.

The case resurfaced on social media in September this year, when reports circulated that two of the three endangered ring-tailed lemurs (Lemur catta) stolen from Gazipur Safari Park last year had been trafficked to India and were being kept at Vantara, a private wildlife conservation facility.

Following the reports, Vantara issued a statement denying the allegations while assuring cooperation in sharing the DNA profiles of the ring-tailed lemurs in its custody with Bangladeshi authorities.

However, the Bangladesh Forest Department was not immediately prepared to respond to the request, as it had no prior DNA profiling records of the lemurs stolen from Gazipur.

Meanwhile, Krishna Prasad Acharya, secretary general of the South Asia Wildlife Enforcement Network, told Mongabay in an email that information sharing could help the countries concerned verify available information, coordinate follow-up and support further investigation by the competent national authorities.

On March 23, 2025, security of the Gazipur Safari Park — a protected wildlife facility — was breached, and three ring-tailed lemurs were stolen.

Two of the stolen lemurs, along with other wildlife species, were brought to the park after being recovered from the airport in Dhaka in August 2018, during a smuggling attempt. The recovered lemur couple gave birth to two cubs at Gazipur Safari Park. One of the lemurs died in February 2022.

Following the theft of the lemurs, Bangladesh Police’s CID began an investigation in April 2025 and arrested eight people.

Sufi said, “Five of them gave confessional statements to the court. Following the statements, we could rescue one of the three stolen lemurs.”

The rescued lemur died at Gazipur Safari Park in February, he said.

On September 8, a Bangladeshi newspaper, citing CID officials, reported the remaining two stolen lemurs from Gazipur had been traced to Vantara — a Gujarat-based privately held wildlife rescue and conservation project managed by a prominent business family in India.

Two days later, Vantara released a statement on social media. The statement said that the lemurs referred to in recent news reports were acquired in accordance with applicable laws and regulations, and Vantara is “ready to support the relevant authorities in establishing the facts, including through DNA comparison if appropriate.”

On September 11, CID officials, however, reportedly said that they were still unable to confirm whether the two lemurs were currently at Vantara.

Sufi told Mongabay that one of the accused individuals, in interrogation, admitted that they smuggled two lemurs to India. “Where the animals were taken afterwards is still a mystery,” Sufi said on September 20.

The lemur family had been at the Gazipur Safari Park for nearly seven years, but neither their DNA profiles had been recorded nor were they tagged with microchips under an individual identification system, which investigators find to be an obstacle in tracing the stolen animals’ last destination.

Sufi said that CID has sought the lemurs’ DNA profile report from the Forest Department.

WCCU-Forensic Lab’s senior lab technician Konok Roy said that he collected DNA samples from the lemur that died in February this year.

Former WCCU Director Jahir Uddin Akon said the department could have stored the DNA profile of the lemurs and other wildlife in captivity, like a safari park, earlier.

“We did not apprehend such an incident. The lemur theft case is a lesson for us,” he said.

The lemur theft case has been filed under Sections 380 and 457, which involve theft and housebreaking, but not with poaching, according to Sufi.

In addition, the Wildlife (Conservation and Security) Act 2026, the only law to protect wildlife in Bangladesh, has no provision to address poaching of wildlife from a protected area such as a safari park.

WCCU Director Mizanur said on September 20 that the DNA report would come back within weeks.

He said, “Lemurs are not native to Bangladesh. Indian authorities can challenge us about their ownership.”

He said currently there is no established protocol between Bangladesh and India for repatriating any trafficked wildlife.