Several exotic animals seized at Madurai airport including 18 iguanas and 50 tortoises
Several exotic animals seized at Madurai airport, including 11 species of snakes, 18 small green iguanas, 7 chameleons, 50 tortoises
Madurai: Several species of snakes, small iguanas, and black tortoises were seized by customs officials at Madurai airport from a passenger arriving on a Sri Lankan Airlines flight. The passenger who was traveling from Bangkok through Colombo was found to have rare and live reptilian animals hidden in packets.
The animals seized included 11 species of snakes, 18 small green iguanas, 7 chameleons, 50 tortoises, three black tortoises, and four lizards. The incident comes on the heels of a similar seizure at Chennai airport last week when customs officials seized eight exotic animals from two passengers who had arrived from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Meanwhile, in another incident at Chennai airport, the officials found four Eastern Grey Gibbons, a protected species under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Two gibbons were discovered alive, while two were dead. Customs authorities also seized two marbled polecats and a silvery lutung, both vulnerable species, and a dead Sumatran white-bearded palm civet.
Customs personnel detained the passengers on the basis of intelligence gathered on March 7. The animals were found hidden in ventilated boxes in their check-in luggage. The incidents indicate wildlife traffickers have resumed operations at Chennai airport following a lull. Customs officers are probing the two incidents and documentation work has been initiated.
