Current:Home > NewsEndangered red panda among 87 live animals seized from smugglers at Thailand airport -Financium
Endangered red panda among 87 live animals seized from smugglers at Thailand airport
View
Date:2025-04-17 08:24:47
Bangkok — Thai customs officials have arrested six Indians for attempting to smuggle a red panda and 86 other animals out of the kingdom, including snakes, parrots and monitor lizards, officials said Wednesday.
The illicit menagerie was discovered hidden in the suspects' checked luggage at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport as they tried to fly to Mumbai.
Thailand is a major transit hub for smugglers in the illicit wildlife trafficking trade, who often sell the animals in China and Vietnam, although recent years have seen an uptick in trafficking to India.
- How Prince William helped U.S. agents bust a wildlife smuggling network
"We have found out that the animals include 29 black throat monitor lizards, 21 snakes, 15 birds, including parrots — a total of 87 animals. The animals were hidden inside the luggage," the Customs Department said in a statement.
Photos released by the department showed the red panda — an endangered species — peeking out of a wicker basket, and a parrot shut in a plastic container with air holes crudely drilled in the lid.
More plastic tubs held lizards, while snakes were seen coiled together in cloth bags.
The suspects face a maximum of 10 years in jail or four times the amount of import duties.
Last month a Mongolian man was arrested at the same airport for trying to smuggle Komodo dragons, pythons and two dozen live fish out of the kingdom.
The trafficking of wildlife has flourished into the 4th biggest illicit trade on the planet, worth an estimated $100 and $150 billion per year. Decades of charity-driven conservation efforts have largely failed to curb the trade, which experts say is linked to virtually every other facet of global organized crime, from weapons and narcotics smuggling to terrorism.
- In:
- India
- Thailand
- Endangered Species
- Environment
- Smuggling
- Asia
- Illegal Wildlife Trafficking
veryGood! (947)
Related
- Whoopi Goldberg is delightfully vile as Miss Hannigan in ‘Annie’ stage return
- Tension between North and South Korea flares as South plans resumption of front-line military activities
- Michigan man’s court video about driving offense went viral. Now he’s in trouble again.
- Another victim from suspected serial killer's Indiana farm ID'd as man who went missing in 1993
- B.A. Parker is learning the banjo
- Ikea is hiring real people to work at its virtual Roblox store
- Jennie Garth’s Daughter Fiona Looks All Grown Up in Prom Photos
- Ranking Major League Baseball's eight most beautiful stadiums
- Will the 'Yellowstone' finale be the last episode? What we know about Season 6, spinoffs
- NHL to broadcast Stanley Cup Final games in American Sign Language, a 1st for a major sports league
Ranking
- A South Texas lawmaker’s 15
- Tori Spelling Reveals She Replaced Her Disgusting Teeth With New Veneers
- In Push to Meet Maryland’s Ambitious Climate Commitments, Moore Announces New Executive Actions
- Biden will praise men like his uncles when he commemorates the 80th anniversary of D-Day in France
- A South Texas lawmaker’s 15
- Who was Scott Scurlock? How a ‘Point Break’-loving bandit masterminded bank robbery spree
- Inside NBC’s Olympics bet on pop culture in Paris, with help from Snoop Dogg and Cardi B
- Cara Delevingne Shares Rare Insight Into Relationship With Minke in Sweet 2nd Anniversary Post
Recommendation
Meta donates $1 million to Trump’s inauguration fund
Deliberations continue in $40 million fraud trial roiled by bag of cash for a juror
Jennie Garth’s Daughter Fiona Looks All Grown Up in Prom Photos
Nvidia’s stock market value touches $3 trillion. How it rose to AI prominence, by the numbers
Apple iOS 18.2: What to know about top features, including Genmoji, AI updates
Appeals court halts Trump’s Georgia election case while appeal on Willis disqualification pending
Chicago woman loses baby after teens kicked, punched her in random attack, report says
Alaska father dies during motorcycle ride to honor daughter killed in bizarre murder-for-hire scheme