Man with 47 snakes, 2 lizards arrested at Trichy International airport

Tamil Nadu: In a bizarre incident, Custom officials in Tamil Nadu’s Trichy International airport seized 47 exotic pythons and two lizards from a passenger’s trolley bag on Sunday.

The passenger who arrived from Kuala Lumpur was identified as Muhammad Moideen, has been detained.

The passenger was onboard the Batik Air Flight, which was hailing from Malasiya and landed at the Trichy airport. The custom officials intercepted Moideen at the airport after noticing something odd about his baggage.

#TamilNadu– Customs officials caught a Malaysian passenger with 47 exotic pythons and two lizards at #Trichy airport on Sunday. pic.twitter.com/kVggJIP08C

— Suresh (@isureshofficial) July 30, 2023

After a thorough investigation, airport authorities made a startling discovery when they found live reptiles of various species concealed in several perforated boxes. Acting promptly, the airport authorities notified forest officials, who promptly arrived at the scene for further interrogation.

The forest officials successfully recovered a total of 47 pythons and two lizards from the concealed boxes. In accordance with established policies, the forest department has initiated the process of returning these reptiles back to Malaysia, their country of origin.

Further investigation is underway.