Plane Passenger Caught Carrying 16 Live Snakes in Luggage
"Customs officers ... foiled yet another wildlife smuggling attempt, 16 live snakes ... seized from a passenger returning from Thailand," customs officers said
Most of the snakes were nonvenomous or not dangerous to humans, including garter snakes, a rhino rat snake, a Kenyan sand boa and moreCustoms officers in India were in for a surprise when they discovered a plane passenger flying with more than a dozen wriggling snakes in their luggage.
According to a statement from customs agents in Mumbai, a passenger arriving from Thailand was stopped at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (CSIA) on Sunday, June 29, after officers found 16 wild animals in their bag.
"Customs officers ... foiled yet another wildlife smuggling attempt, 16 live snakes ... seized from a passenger returning from Thailand," customs officers said on X.
Many of the snakes found stowed away were nonvenomous or not dangerous to humans, including garter snakes, a coastal banded California king snake, a rhino rat snake, an albino rat snake, a Kenyan sand boa and more.
The passenger was arrested and customs said that an investigation is underway.
According to CBS News, many of the species found in the suspect's luggage are often sold in the pet trade.
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This incident marks the third seizure of live animals in Mumbai in one month, according to CBS.
In early June, authorities said they arrested another passenger coming from Thailand who had attempted to bring 44 Indonesian pit vipers concealed in their checked-in baggage, as well as three venomous Spider-tailed horned vipers and five Asian leaf turtles.
Just days later, another passenger was stopped as they were trying to smuggle in 100 live animals, many of them endangered, including lizards, sunbirds and tree-climbing possums.
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India isn't the only country where passengers have attempted to bring live animals through customs or security. In March, a Pennsylvania man was caught trying to smuggle a red-ear slider turtle through security at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey by stuffing it down his pants.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) shared in a press release at the time that the discovery came after an alarm on a TSA body scanner was activated in the man's groin area.
'A TSA officer administered a pat-down of the area of the man's body where the alarm was triggered and in doing so, determined that there was something concealed in the area of the man's groin,' the release read.
Officials added, 'When asked if there was something hidden in his pants, the man, a resident of East Stroudsburg, Pa., reached down the front of his pants and pulled out a live turtle that was wrapped in a small blue towel.'
In November last year, security officials at Jorge Chavez International Airport in Lima, Peru, stopped an alleged smuggler, a 28-year-old South Korean man, because his stomach appeared abnormally swollen while he was passing through security.
Peru's National Forest and Wildlife Service (SERFOR) said in a press release at the time that the man was asked to lift his shirt, revealing two belts that had been adorned with camouflaged bags and packages containing tarantulas and other bugs, according to the wildlife service.
Specialists with the government agency later tallied the concealed critters, counting 35 adult tarantulas, 285 juvenile tarantulas, 110 centipedes and nine bullet ants.
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