400 baby iguanas trafficked from Thailand; Bengaluru man arrested at Chennai airport

Chennai, India:  Customs officials arrested a Bengaluru resident at the Chennai International Airport on Friday night for allegedly trafficking around 400 baby iguanas from Bangkok.

Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) sources said the 35-year-old suspect disembarked from a Thai Airways flight around 11.50 pm with around the iguanas concealed in two boxes inside his checked-in baggage. During screening, they were found to have 230 green iguanas, 110 orange ones, seven yellow ones, and 55 blue ones. Nearly 70 of them had died, sources added. The live iguanas were sent back to Thailand as per the provisions of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES).

The customs officials in Chennai have so far thwarted 18 such instances of exotic species being trafficked during the financial year 2023-2024, including exotic snakes, monkeys of various kinds, reptiles and spiders. Sources said the officials arrest all those trafficking exotic species, but it is usually under the Customs Act and flouting of Director General of Foreign Trade regulations and non-availability of animal quarantine NOC, and in some cases the WLPA.

But in this case, they were able to make a non-bailable arrest under the parent WLPA. The local Alandur court upheld the remand of the passenger. Further probe would be held to find if the trafficking was a part of a larger network, sources added.

Source: (New Indian Express)