Passenger Detained For Bringing 47 Pythons At Trichy Airport After Arriving From KL
The Indian national reportedly had the 47 snakes and 2 lizards in his bag.
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An Indian national was detained at the Tiruchirappalli (Trichy) airport in Southern India after bringing home 47 pythons. The man who has been identified as Muhammad Moideen, reportedly had the snakes and two lizards in his bag after returning from Kuala Lumpur.
The reptiles have since been seized under India’s customs and wildlife protection laws and will be sent back to Malaysia. Moideen’s seizure came after customs officials intercepted him upon his arrival on the Batik Air flight.Â
According to reports, they had noticed his bags moving. Officials then proceeded to investigate, only to discover live reptiles of various varieties concealed in several perforated boxes.Â
This is not the first incident to have happened as wild smugglers often try to smuggle wildlife from Southeast Asia into India.Â
Just last week, officers of the Customs Air Intelligence Unit (AIU) confiscated 6,850 live red-eared sliders, a species of turtle from two male passengers. The two men had arrived at the Triuchi international airport from Malaysia.
Customs authorities noted that they intercepted the two, Azar from Madurai and Habeeb Nazer from Ramanathapuram after they found the men’s behaviour to be suspicious.Â
Upon their examination, they discovered small-sized live turtles concealed in small boxes inside the bag of each passenger. And a hefty amount of 57, 441 Indian rupees were also found.Â
A senior official said that the 6,850 turtles were native to the South-Eastern United States. And they were illegally being transported. The turtles are said to have been handed over to the authorities and transported back to their country of origin.
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