Two men were arrested Wednesday on suspicion of illegally importing and selling parrots banned from commercial trade under an international conservation convention on endangered species, police said.
The police identified the two as Atsuhiko Shibata, 34, a dealer in animals who lives in Aichi Prefecture, and Koki Higashi, 35, who works in the fishing industry and is a resident of Mie Prefecture.
The two are suspected of smuggling from the Philippines 12 birds, including Hyacinth Macaws (Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus) between February last year and late January this year in violation of the Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Control Law and a law on preservation of species, according to police.
Two Hyacinth Macaws were sold to a Hyogo Prefecture resident for about 3.9 million yen, police said.
Trade in Hyacinth Macaws is banned by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. They are the world's largest macaws, standing about 1 meter tall, and are native to Brazil.
Shibata and Higashi claimed in import documents that the parrots were for a zoo run by an acquaintance, police said.
The smuggled macaws were discovered following a raid last month and are now being kept at a zoo in Nagoya, they said.