Two women arrested at Suvarnabhumi airport for hiding more than 100 live animals in their luggage
Airport screening officer at Suvarnabhumi International Airport, Bangkok. Photo: Mattes.
Two Indian women have been arrested at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport in Thailand while attempting to smuggle more than 100 live animals, including armadillos, porcupines, turtles, chameleons and snakes. This has been confirmed by wildlife protection authorities. The most striking thing is that the women were carrying the live animals in suitcases.
The animals were discovered when the two Indian women passed their luggage through X-ray machines at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport, according to authorities. The two women were bound for Madras in India.
“These kinds of cases are frequent because animals fetch a high price in India,” a Wildlife Inspector at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport, told AFP.
More than 100 live animals were found in the luggage of two Indian nationals at the Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok. Read to know what animals were discovered. #Science https://t.co/xJnSQpg7iw
— ScienceTimes (@ScienceTimesCom) June 29, 2022
The animals would be worth about 200,000 baht ($5,600), according to an official. The authorities discovered two armadillos, two porcupines, 20 snakes, 35 turtles and 50 chameleons stuffed into a pair of bags belonging to the two women.
Airport officials also found two dead iguanas and all the reptiles were suffering from dehydration, according to a Facebook post by Thailand’s Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation. The animals are being treated and will be moved to an animal center or breeding facility, officials say.
Thailand is a major transit hub for smugglers of wild animals, which are often destined for Vietnam or China, where they are used in traditional medicine.
-Thailand News (TN)
