Indian smuggler stopped with possums, lizards, tarantulas
MUMBAI (AFP)Indian customs officers made the latest "significant" seizure of endangered wildlife from a passenger arriving from Thailand, a government statement said, carrying nearly 100 creatures including lizards, sunbirds and tree-climbing possums.Customs officers said the passenger, who was also carrying two tarantula spiders and tortoises, had "exhibited signs of nervousness" on arrival at India's financial capital Mumbai.The seizure comes after a passenger was stopped smuggling dozens of venomous vipers, also arriving from Thailand, earlier in June.Wildlife seized included iguanas, as well as a kinkajou or honey bear -- a small raccoon-like animal from Mexico's rainforests -- as well as six "sugar gliders", a gliding possum found in Australia.Photographs released by the customs unit showed the six sugar gliders huddled together in a basket, as well as a box crammed with lizards."In a significant operation, customs officers... intercepted an Indian national... leading to the seizure of multiple live and deceased wildlife species, some of which are protected under wildlife protection laws", the Ministry of Finance said in a statement late Monday.Wildlife trade monitor TRAFFIC, which battles the smuggling of wild animals and plants, on Tuesday warned of a "very troubling" trend in trafficking driven by the exotic pet trade.More than 7,000 animals, dead and alive, have been seized along the Thailand-India air route in the last 3.5 years, it said.Customs officers seized dozens of snakes and several turtles from an Indian national flying from Thailand earlier in June. Among them were several spider-tailed horned vipers, a venomous species only described by scientists in 2006 and classed as "near-threatened" by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
In February, customs officials at Mumbai airport also stopped a smuggler with five Siamang gibbons, a small ape native to the forests of Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand.
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