A plane passenger arriving from Thailand with a wriggling cargo of live snakes was stopped by Indian customs officers in Mumbai, India. It is the third such seizure this month.
“Customs officers... foiled yet another wildlife smuggling attempt, 16 live snakes... seized from passenger returning from Thailand,” said customs officers at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport.
The passenger, who arrived on June 29, has been arrested, the customs agency said in a statement, with “further investigation underway”.
The live snakes included reptiles often sold in the pet trade, and were largely non-venomous or with venom too weak to affect people.
They included garter snakes, a rhino rat snake and a Kenyan sand boa, among others.
In early June, customs officers stopped a passenger, also arriving from Thailand, who was smuggling dozens of venomous vipers.
Days later, officers stopped another traveller carrying 100 creatures including lizards, sunbirds and tree-climbing possums.
Wildlife trade monitor TRAFFIC, which battles the smuggling of wild animals and plants, has warned of a “very troubling” trend in trafficking driven by the exotic pet trade.
More than 7,000 animals, dead and alive, have been seized along the Thailand-India air route in the last 3.5 years, it said.
AFP
