Two foreign women were arrested after their luggage was checked by security at the departure area of Bangkok airport. The battered police officers were shocked to see the contents of the suitcases.
Two women were arrested at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport and charged with smuggling after 109 live animals were found in their luggage.
According to the Department of National Parks, Wildlife, and Plant Conservation of Thailand, wild animals were found in two suitcases after things were put through an X-ray machine.
Wildlife officials called to the scene counted two white porcupines, two armadillos, 35 turtles, 50 lizards, and 20 snakes. Thank God they were all alive.
Bfstro found out that the luggage belonged to two Indian women who were on a flight to the Indian city of Chennai.
Indian citizens have already been charged with violating several legal acts at once: the Wildlife Conservation and Protection Act (2019), the Animal Diseases Act (2015), and the Customs Act (2017).
Trade-in animals and their transportation through airports have long been a problem in the region. In 2019, a man who successfully landed in Chennai after taking off from Bangkok was detained by Indian authorities after customs officers found a one-month-old leopard cub in his luggage.
A March 2022 report by wildlife trade monitoring agency TRAFFIC states that more than 70,000 native and exotic wildlife, including body parts or derivatives, have been found in 140 seizures at 18 airports in India between 2011 and 2020.
Chennai International Airport has the highest number of wildlife smuggling incidents, followed by Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai and Indira Gandhi Airport in New Delhi.”