Motihari, April 18: Three men detained yesterday for allegedly smuggling 21 Chinese parrots into the country were released today after a jurisdiction tussle between the customs and forest departments.

SSB personnel seized the consignment worth around Rs 4.2 lakh. The trio were released because the customs department failed to lodge a case. Divisional forest officer Mokhtarul Haque said: "They could be forwarded to judicial custody only if a case was lodged against them by the customs department."

The Telegraph tried speaking to the assistant commissioner of customs, Mahipal Singh, several times but his phone was switched off.