A passenger flying from Bangkok to Bengaluru has been arrested by Indian customs and is being accused of smuggling ten yellow anacondas in his checked-in bag. An investigation is currently underway. The smuggler is facing two to seven years in prison.
The Customs Department at Kempegowda International Airport, in Bengaluru, the capital of India’s southern state of Karnataka, intercepted the illegal contents of the bag. The man to whom the suitcase belonged was flying in from Bangkok, Thailand. India has been a member of the CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of wild fauna and flora) since 1976 and “wildlife trafficking will not be tolerated,” the officials said.
Where the anacondas came from, remains uncertain at the moment. The reptiles are naturally mainly found in Paraguay, Bolivia, Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay, living close to water bodies.
It is not the first time wildlife smuggling has been discovered in India. Last year alone, 234 wild animals were intercepted at the Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru. According to a report on Mongabay, India is among the top 20 countries for wildlife smuggling and among the top 10 for wildlife trafficking by air.
“Due to its megadiverse nature (India has 8% of the world’s wildlife), and dense human population (which makes tracing illegal goods very difficult once they have entered domestic markets), India serves as both, a source, as well as a transit country for illegal wildlife and wildlife products,” says the report.
Under the Customs Act of 1962, those who smuggle wildlife risk between two and seven years in prison under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Moreover, the fact that the smuggler was travelling from Thailand to India wasn’t a coincidence, as, according to the Independent, Thailand too is a major transit hub for illegal wildlife smuggling.
