Nearly 6,900 tortoises confiscated in Chennai from KLIA passengers

 

Authorities in Tamil Nadu said they found nearly 6,900 red-eared slider tortoises in the luggage of two passengers who had disembarked from Malaysia. (Wikipedia pic)

PETALING JAYA: Airport authorities in Tamil Nadu, India, said they have confiscated nearly 6,900 tortoises from two male passengers who arrived in Chennai from Kuala Lumpur on an AirAsia flight.

The Hindu newspaper reported that the passengers were intercepted by Customs officers acting on specific information. The officers reportedly found 6,850 small-sized red-eared sliders, a species of tortoise, inside the stroller bags of both passengers.

The animals were reportedly brought into the country without any valid import documents or licences. Both passengers were arrested.

The Tamil Nadu forestry department said red-eared sliders are native to the southeastern US but are an invasive species in Tamil Nadu.

The forestry department added that it was in the process of transporting the tortoises back to their country of origin, while Customs said the case is currently under investigation.

In April, Indian airport authorities confiscated 22 snakes that were found in the baggage of a Malaysian woman who arrived in Chennai from Kuala Lumpur.

In October last year, India’s directorate of revenue intelligence said it had arrested two people and seized 600 live exotic animals worth nearly RM1.7 million from a Malaysian consignment, falsified as aquarium fish, in Mumbai. - FMT