Indian customs officials in Mumbai have once again intercepted a significant wildlife smuggling operation, marking the third such seizure this month. This time, a passenger arriving from Thailand was found with a consignment of live snakes. According to customs authorities at the Indian financial hub’s airport, “Customs officers… foiled yet another wildlife smuggling attempt, 16 live snakes… seized from passenger returning from Thailand.”
The passenger, who arrived on Sunday, has been arrested, and “further investigation [is] underway,” as stated by the customs agency. The seized live snakes, predominantly non-venomous or with venom too weak to affect humans, included garter snakes, a rhino rat snake, and a Kenyan sand boa, among others.
This incident follows two earlier seizures in June. In the first instance, customs officers apprehended a passenger attempting to smuggle dozens of venomous vipers, also arriving from Thailand. Days later, another traveler was stopped with 100 creatures, including lizards, sunbirds, and tree-climbing possums.
TRAFFIC, a wildlife trade monitor dedicated to combating the smuggling of wild animals and plants, has raised concerns about a “very troubling” increase in such trafficking, largely driven by the exotic pet trade. Over the past three and a half years, more than 7,000 animals, both dead and alive, have been confiscated along the Thailand-India air route.
While snake seizures are relatively uncommon in Mumbai, where customs officers more frequently report hauls of smuggled gold, cash, cannabis, or suspected cocaine pills swallowed by passengers, wildlife smuggling remains a persistent issue. For example, in February, customs officials at Mumbai airport intercepted a smuggler with five Siamang gibbons, small apes native to the forests of Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand. These endangered creatures, listed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), were “ingeniously concealed” within a plastic crate inside the passenger’s trolley bag.
Previous incidents include a November seizure of 12 live turtles from a passenger, and a month prior, four hornbill birds, all on flights originating from Thailand. In September, two passengers were arrested with five juvenile caimans, reptiles belonging to the alligator family.
