Snakes on a plane: Man flies from Bangkok with 10 anacondas, arrested in Bengaluru

Mangalore Today News Network

Bengaluru, April 23, 2024: A passenger was arrested at Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport for attempting to smuggle 10 yellow anacondas. The reptiles were concealed in his check-in baggage.

In a post on X, the Bengaluru Customs department said the officials intercepted the passenger who arrived from Bangkok and arrested him. "Passenger arrested and investigation is underway. Wildlife trafficking will not be tolerated," the department said in a post on X.

The yellow anaconda is a riverine species found close to water bodies. Yellow anacondas are usually found in Paraguay, Bolivia, Brazil, northeastern Argentina, and northern Uruguay.

As per the law, wildlife trade and trafficking is illegal in India.

Last year, customs officials at the Bengaluru airport rescued 234 wild animals, including a baby kangaroo, allegedly smuggled by a passenger from Bangkok. The young kangaroo, which was in a plastic box, had died of suffocation.

The customs department had received a tip-off and upon searching the man’s luggage, pythons, chameleons, iguanas, turtles and alligators were found concealed in trolley bags.

Some of the animals found in the man’s luggage were listed in the appendices of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

 

Courtesy: India Today