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Snakes on a Plane Highlight Thailand-India Trafficking, NGO Warns

On June 9, 2025, Indian customs officials at Mumbai airport confiscated nearly 100 live and dead exotic animals carried by a traveler who had arrived from Thailand and appeared visibly nervous.
This seizure is part of more than 7,000 animals, both living and deceased, that have been intercepted during transit between Thailand and India over the past three and a half years, primarily due to demand for exotic pets.
The confiscated wildlife included venomous spider-tailed horned vipers, iguanas, sugar gliders, a kinkajou, tortoises, lizards, and sunbirds, many concealed in plastic crates inside trolley bags.
On June 10, TRAFFIC, an organization monitoring illegal wildlife trade, expressed serious concern over the frequent and varied seizures of wild animals being smuggled into India, attributing the surge to high demand for exotic pets.
The incidents illustrate a rising trend in India, where over 80 percent of such interceptions occur, highlighting ongoing challenges to combat illegal wildlife trafficking.

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The Manila Times

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Snakes on a plane highlight Thailand-India trafficking

4 days ago·Manila, Philippines

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CBS News

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Smuggler traveling from Thailand stopped with lizards, tarantulas, possums, authorities in India say

Indian customs officers caught a passenger arriving from Thailand carrying nearly 100 creatures including lizards, sunbirds and possums, India's government says.

4 days ago

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Le Parisien

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He "Showed Signs of Nervousness": a Trafficker Arrested with Tarantulas, Flybirds and Possums in His Suitcases

The passenger, an Indian national, arrested at Bombay Airport in India, carried a total of about 100 exotic animals.

4 days ago·Paris, France

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Liberation

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An Indian Arrested with a Hundred Wild Animals at Bombay Airport

The passenger from Thailand was carrying lizards, possums or spiders in his suitcases, a traffic of live and dead animal species that continues to increase between the two countries.

4 days ago·Paris, France

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The Star Kuala Lumpur

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Indian smuggler on flight from Thailand stopped with possums, lizards, tarantulas

MUMBAI: Indian customs officers made the latest "significant" seizure of endangered wildlife from a passenger arriving from Thailand, a government statement said, carrying nearly 100 creatures including lizards, sunbirds and tree-climbing possums.

5 days ago·Malaysia

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