31 Oct 2022

Six live animals have been seized from the checked-in luggage of a passenger in Chennai, in a case that highlights a growing trend for smuggling rare species into India and loopholes in its wildlife laws.

Airport officials found five dwarf mongooses and a common spotted cuscus, a marsupial that lives in Australia and New Guinea, last week. They were concealed in the bags of a traveller from Thailand.

The animals were returned to their native countries and the passenger was arrested, but the incident yet again exposed the rise in cases of smuggling of wildlife into the country.

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