Indian customs officers have arrested a passenger accused of smuggling 10 yellow anacondas hid in his checked-in bag.
The Customs Division at Kempegowda Worldwide Airport in Bengaluru, the capital of India’s southern state of Karnataka, stated they’d intercepted the passenger and that an investigation was underway. The passenger was flying in from Bangkok in Thailand.
“Wildlife trafficking won’t be tolerated,” the officers stated.
India has been a part of the CITES (Conference on Worldwide Commerce in Endangered Species of untamed fauna and flora) since 1976, and nonetheless stays among the many prime 20 nations for wildlife smuggling and among the many prime 10 for wildlife trafficking by air, a report on Mongabay says.
“Resulting from its megadiverse nature (India has 8 per cent of the world’s wildlife), and dense human inhabitants (which makes tracing unlawful items very troublesome as soon as they’ve entered home markets), India serves as each, a supply, in addition to a transit nation for unlawful wildlife and wildlife merchandise,” says the report.
Beneath the Customs Act of 1962, wildlife traffickers could be imprisoned for anyplace between two years to seven years underneath related sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
In September 2023, officers recovered six Capuchin monkeys, 55 ball pythons in numerous color variations, and 17 king cobras within the baggage of a passenger coming from Bangkok. The primates have been discovered lifeless, whereas the snakes have been nonetheless alive and subsequently deported to their nation of origin.
In the same incident in August 2023, Bengaluru customs officers rescued 234 animals, together with pythons, chameleons, iguanas, turtles, alligators, and even a child kangaroo. The kangaroo, which was stuffed inside a plastic field, didn’t survive, and the passenger was arrested. On this incident too, the passenger was on his method from Bangkok.
Thailand is a significant transit hub for unlawful wildlife smuggling attributable to its geographical location and well-connected transportation networks.
In March 2024, six Indian nationals have been arrested on the Bangkok airport after an endangered pink panda and 87 different unique animals and birds have been seized from their baggage in a significant wildlife trafficking bust.
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