Two women have been arrested in Thailand after attempting to smuggle in more than 100 live animals - including snakes, armadillos and porcupines - inside their luggage.
Nithya Raja, 38, and Zakia Sulthana Ebrahim, 24, were caught red-handed at Bangkok’s international airport on June 27, after checking into their flight.
Upon going through security, X-ray scans of their bags revealed the women stuffed two armadillos, two porcupines, 20 snakes, 35 turtles and 50 chameleons between them - totalling to 109 creatures.
Horrifyingly, the animals were found to be suffering from dehydration, and the two iguanas had perished before they were able to be rescued.
Both armadillos were found dehydrated but alive after being removed from one of the suitcases.
A haul of this size, Sathon Konggoen, the chief of Suvarnabhumi airport’s wildlife inspection office, said is unusual at an international airport.
He said: “Animal trafficking is usually detected at the Thai-Myanmar borders and domestic airports to a certain extent.”
Konggoen estimated that the market value of the seized animals is at 200,000 baht (£3,700).
“This kind of case has happened many times because the animals have expensive price tags in India,” he said.
The two women may now face up to 10 years in prison for the crime, after being charged under the wildlife preservation act, and customs and public health laws.
They were also found to have breached the Animal Disease Act of 2015 and the Customs Act of 2017.
It remains unclear what the women were planning to do with the animals.
Thailand is a centre of trade in restricted and endangered species - which are in demand across Asia both as exotic pets and, for some creatures, as ingredients in traditional medicine.
Meanwhile three years ago a passenger from Bangkok was arrested on arrival in Chennai after a leopard cub was found in his luggage.
And in May this year, authorities at the Chennai International Airport recovered an albino porcupine and a monkey from someone else's baggage.
A report this year by the wildlife campaign group Traffic revealed that 70,000 native and exotic wild animals were recovered in 140 seizures at Indian airports in the decade up to 2020.
They included tiger skins, elephant tusks, shark fins, sea cucumbers, 55kg of the scales of the endangered pangolin and 49kg of Indian peafowl feathers.
Reptiles fall under the most commonly smuggled category, amounting to 46 per cent of creatures recovered - with 36 per cent of seizures being at Chennai airport.
“Most of the illegal wildlife trade goes unchecked and unreported,” Traffic warned.
“Wildlife and forest crime is a serious and growing problem. . . It comprises the fourth-largest illegal trade worldwide after arms, drugs and human trafficking, and frequently links with other forms of serious crime such as fraud, money laundering and corruption.”
