Two women were arrested in Bangkok Suvarnabhumi airport and charged with smuggling after 109 live animals were found in their luggage.
According to the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation of Thailand, wild animals were found in two suitcases after passing through x-ray machine.
Wilderness officers called to the scene counted two white porcupines, two armadillos, 35 turtles, 50 lizards and 20 snakes. Thank God, they all turned out to be alive.
Bfstro found out that the luggage belonged to two Indian women who were flying to the Indian city of Chennai.
Citizens of India have already been charged with violating several legal acts at once : Wildlife Conservation and Protection Act (2019), Animal Diseases Act (2015) and Customs Act (2017).
Trafficking and transporting animals through airports has long been a problem in the region . In 2019, a man who successfully landed in Chennai after taking off from Bangkok was detained by Indian authorities after customs officers found a one-month-old leopard cub in his luggage.
According to a March report by wildlife trade monitoring agency TRAFFIC 2022 states that between 2011 and 2020, over 70,000 native and exotic wildlife, including body parts or derivatives, have been found in 140 seizures at 18 airports in India between 2011 and 2020.
Highest number of cases of wildlife is registered at Chennai International Airport, followed by Mumbai's Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport and New Delhi's Indira Gandhi Airport.