Women caught with 105 live animals smuggled inside suitcase
Two women have been accused of trying to smuggle live animals from Thailand to India.
The women, Nithya Raja, 38, and Zakia Sulthana Ebrahim, 24, were due to travel from Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport to Chennai, India.
Their bags were placed on the conveyor belt to be scanned by x-ray when the animals were discovered, the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation said.
Inside the bag were two white porcupines, two armadillos, 35 turtles, 50 lizards and 20 snakes.
The women have since been charged with violating the Wildlife Conservation and Protection Act of 2019, the Animal Disease Act of 2015 and the Customs Act of 2017.
This is not the first time travellers have tried to smuggle through live animals.
Back in 2019, a man arrived in Chennai from Bangkok and reportedly had a month-old leopard cub in his bag.
Wildlife trade monitoring agency TRAFFIC released a report in March 2022 claiming that 70,000 native and exotic wild animals, including their body parts or derivatives, were discovered in 140 seizures at 18 Indian airports between 2011 and 2020.
"Chennai International Airport, Tamil Nadu, recorded the highest number of wildlife seizure incidents, followed by Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, Mumbai and Indira Gandhi Airport New Delhi," the report read.
Images: Nine News