Rihanna posted a 'selfie' with a furry primate, loris, via her Instagram account during her stop at the island of Phuket, which led to the arrest of two Thai locals for illegal possession of protected species.
A weekend spent at the island of Phuket actually turned sour for two Thailand locals who got arrested due to an Instagram pic posted by Rihanna. On a break from her Diamonds World Tour, Rihanna spent an adventurous weekend in Thailand before leaving for Singapore, Sunday. The singer constantly shared her experiences on Twitter and Instagram, but a picture of her holding a slow loris, a furry primate listed as a protected species, resulted in the arrest of two local individuals from the island.
The Instagram 'selfie' with an endangered primate native to Southeast Asia captioned "Look who was talkin dirty to me!" got more than 230,000 likes. But neither the pic nor the singer can be directly blamed for the arrest of the two individuals. In fact, possession of any endangered species as pets is illegal by law. Hence, soon after the picture was shared on Twitter and Instagram with more than 31 million fans, it went viral and the Thai authorities quickly responded.
Taking pictures with cute endangered species is a part of recreation for many tourists and a source of income for the locals. Despite several arrests in the region in June, the authorities have failed to track all touts possessing endangered species for tourist attraction.
The government issued an order to the Ministry of Natural Resources and local Phuket officials to investigate the matter, according to CNN. The authorities arrested two men, aged 16 and 20, during a raid on Bangla Road. The arrested duo were taken to the Kathu Police Station and presented to the media Sunday night.
"I had an order from the Phuket Governor to do a raid today after Rihanna posted a photo of her with the loris. It is very difficult to do the raids because the touts have spies. If someone hears that the police are coming their way, there will be a person who calls the touts and tells them to move," Awat Nithikul, the leader of the patrol officers and Senior Forest Academic at Khao Phra Taew Forest Preserve, told The Phuket News. "But this is a big deal because it might affect Thailand's reputation."
Police said that the two arrested men are waiting to be bailed but they are likely to be charged for up to four years in prison and 40,000 baht ($1,300) fine. The two lorises will be returned to a national park in the nearby province of Phang Nga, CNN News reports.
