Customs officers in India stopped and arrested an airline passenger travelling from Thailand after they are saying he was caught smuggling dozens of venomous snakes and different small reptiles into the busy metropolis of Mumbai.
The toxic serpents, which included 44 Indonesian pit vipers, have been “hid in checked-in baggage,” Mumbai customs brokers stated in a submit on Sunday.
“An Indian nationwide arriving from Thailand was arrested,” the assertion added.
Officers stated the passenger additionally stashed three spider-tailed horned vipers — venomous snakes that primarily goal small prey comparable to birds — and 5 Asian leaf turtles.
Mumbai customs shared photos of the brightly colored reptiles on X.
On 01.06.2025, officers at CSMIA seized 3 Spider-Tailed Horned Vipers & 5 Asian Leaf Turtles (CITES Appendix-II), together with 44 Indonesian Pit Vipers, hid in checked-in baggage. An Indian nationwide arriving from Thailand was arrested. pic.twitter.com/C07R2Y58ZX
— Mumbai Customs-III (@mumbaicus3) June 1, 2025
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Mumbai customs shares images of its seizures commonly. Most look like medication, gold or cash-related interceptions, with some travellers making an attempt to hide unlawful substances “contained in the physique cavities,” based on the border company, however the unlawful smuggling of unique wildlife is comparatively frequent.
In February, brokers stopped a smuggler carrying 5 siamang gibbons, a species of small, endangered apes native to Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand.
In keeping with the submit, the animals have been “ingeniously hid” in plastic packing containers and cages, which have been positioned contained in the passenger’s trolley bag.
On the night time of 04-05 Feb’25, customs officers at CSMIA, Mumbai, booked a case of smuggling 5 Siamang Gibbons (Symphalangus syndactylus) underneath Appendix I of CITES & Schedule IV of the amended Wildlife (Safety) Act, 1972. Motion underneath the Act is being initiated @cbic_andia pic.twitter.com/dz1JylHujd
— Mumbai Customs-III (@mumbaicus3) February 5, 2025
In November 2024, brokers found a bundle of 12 unique turtles, which the Wildlife Bureau recognized as Japanese pond turtles and scorpion mud turtles, being smuggled by a passenger coming from Bangkok, Thailand. A month earlier than, employees intercepted two passengers coming from Bangkok with two Visayan hornbills, birds sometimes present in Filipino wetlands, on their individual.
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In September 2024, authorities halted a “important case of smuggling of wildlife” when employees recovered 5 child caiman crocodiles.
On 04.11.2024, the officers at CSMI Airport, Mumbai, intercepted 02 pax coming from Bangkok and seized 12 unique Turtle species. The Wildlife Bureau recognized them as Japanese Pond Turtles (08) & Scorpion Mud Turtles (04), (all Listed in Appendix-II of CITES). 02 pax arrested. pic.twitter.com/rG5dePHaPi
— Mumbai Customs-III (@mumbaicus3) November 5, 2024
A 2024 report on wildlife trafficking by the United Nations Workplace on Medication and Crime discovered that the “world scope and scale of wildlife crime stay substantial.” Seizures from 2015 to 2021 point out “an unlawful commerce in 162 international locations and territories affecting round 4,000 plant and animal species,” of which 3,250 are listed within the Conference on Worldwide Commerce in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.
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Probably the most generally affected species of each crops and animals are uncommon orchids, succulents, reptiles, fish, birds and mammals, and their trafficking has performed a significant position of their “native” or “world” extinctions, the report says.
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In the meantime, in Canada, species susceptible to being focused embrace cougars, geese, lynx, moose, crabs, eels, lobsters, narwhals, turtles and wolves, based on Canada’s monetary intelligence company.
Trafficking additionally has detrimental knock-on results on the surroundings in addition to human longevity, as it could disrupt the steadiness of ecosystems and influence their means to assist regulate and mitigate local weather change, which in flip damages the pure advantages people derive from their surroundings.
“Wildlife crime additionally threatens the socioeconomic advantages folks derive from nature, together with as a supply of revenue, employment, meals, medication, tradition, and extra. It additional corrodes good governance and the rule of regulation by corruption, cash laundering and illicit monetary flows,” the report says.
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Wildlife crimes are sometimes orchestrated by far-reaching felony enterprises which are embedded in roles throughout the worldwide commerce chain, together with in breeding and storage strategies, and are adept at manipulating and exploiting weaknesses and inconsistencies in laws.
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