Wildlife officials at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, the capital of Thailand, arrested two female passengers preparing to leave the country for finding 109 live animals in their suitcases. Two women are charged with wildlife smuggling.
109 live animals seized at a Thai airport (white porcupine pictured on the left)
According to CNN local time reported on June 28, Sathon Khong-ngern, the head of the wildlife checkpoint at Suvarnabhumi Airport, said that the staff found live animals when X-rays of the two women's suitcases.
Luggage X-rays show live animals inside
The suitcase contained a variety of wildlife, including: two white porcupines, two armadillos, 35 turtles, 50 lizards and 20 snakes.
Airport officials display rescued sea turtles
Two armadillos rescued
50 lizards rescued
The Thai government said the suitcase belonged to two Indian women, Nithya Raja, 38, and Zaki Sulthan A Ebrahim, 24. The two prepare to fly thai airways to India's Chennai International Airport.
The two women were detained and charged with violating Thailand's Wildlife Protection Law of 2019, the Animal Diseases Law of 2015 and the Customs Law of 2017. They were handed over to the Suvarnabhumi Airport Police For further legal action.
The suitcase was owned by two Indian women
Smuggling of animals through airports has long been a problem in the region. In 2019, a man flying from Bangkok to Chennai, India, was found in his suitcase with a leopard cub as a month old, and customs officials detained it.
Wildlife trade monitor TRAFFIC released a report in March that more than 70,000 native and exotic wildlife, including body parts or derivatives, were found in 140 seizures at 18 airports in India between 2011 and 2020. The report also mentions that india's Chennai International Airport has recorded the most wildlife seizures.
According to the Anti-Wildlife Smuggling Coalition, wildlife smuggling around the world harms animal populations and fuels criminal networks because of the billions of dollars in profits involved.
Agencies such as the U.S. Embassy are helping Thailand and other countries in the region fight wildlife smuggling and have made several efforts to curb wildlife crime, protect endangered species from extinction, and reduce demand for illegal wildlife products, USAID said last year.
"Wildlife smuggling threatens security, hinders economic development, undermines the rule of law," the Justice Department said, "and the illegal trade in wildlife is destroying many species around the world and threatening the extinction of iconic species such as rhinos, elephants and tigers." ”
Nandu reporter Shi Minglei