India, May 6 -- A flight from Malaysia landed at the Mumbai international airport on Sunday, with an unusual consignment in its hold - packed into suitcases were nine exotic simians, eight of them dead.

The wildlife wing of the state forest department on Monday arrested two individuals, who had smuggled the animals into India, begging the question: how did they manage to check in suitcases that held these animals, making it past security scanners in both countries?

The department has arrested Sriram Subramania from Tamil Nadu and Mathavi Sallakunhu, a Malaysian national, from Hotel Janata in Colaba. The simians they had smuggled in were four Simon Gibbons, three Golden Gibbons, and two pigtail macaques. Of this, only one pigtail macaque...