Dylan Bettencourt
Two Indian women have been caught at Bangkok’s International Airport for attempting to smuggle over 100 live animals in their luggage.
X-rays of their bags revealed two armadillos, two porcupines, 20 snakes, 25 turtles and 50 chameleons.
The animals were reported to have been dehydrated. Two iguanas were found dead after the bags were opened.
Nithya Raja, 38, and Zakia Sulthana Ebrahim, 24, are now facing up to 10 years in prison, after being charged under the wildlife preservation act and customs and public health laws.
Thailand airports are accustomed to finding live animals in passenger luggage, as the country remains the centre of trade in endangered species.
Three years ago, a passenger was detained after officials found a leopard in his luggage.
“Animal trafficking is usually detected at the Thai-Myanmar borders and domestic airports,” said Sathon Konggoen, chief of Suvarnabhumi airport’s wildlife inspection office.
But the number of animals the two women were trying to smuggle through is unprecedented.
The value of the seized animals is said to be around R73,000.
Some 70,000 exotic wild animals were found at 140 seizures at Indian airports between 2010 and 2020, according to a report by the wildlife campaign group Traffic.
They include tiger skins, elephant tusks, shark fins, sea cucumbers, 550kg of the scales of the endangered pangolin, and 49kg of Indian peafowl feathers.
“Most of the illegal wildlife trade goes unchecked and unreported,” Traffic wrote in the report.
Image source: @CNN
