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Agence France-Presse

A passenger smuggling dozens of venomous vipers was stopped after flying into the financial capital Mumbai from Thailand, according to Indian customs officials.
The snakes, which included 44 Indonesian pit vipers, were “concealed in checked-in baggage”, Mumbai Customs said in a statement late on Sunday.
“An Indian national arriving from Thailand was arrested,” it added.
The passenger, details of whom were not released, also had three spider-tailed horned vipers – which are venomous, but usually only target small prey such as birds – as well as five Asian leaf turtles.

Mumbai Customs issued photographs of the seized snakes, including blue and yellow reptiles squirming in a bucket.
The snakes are a relatively unusual seizure in Mumbai, with customs officers more regularly posting pictures of hauls of smuggled gold, cash, cannabis or pills of suspected cocaine swallowed by passengers.
However, in February, customs officials at Mumbai airport also stopped a smuggler with five Siamang gibbons, a small ape native to the forests of Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand.

Those small creatures, listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, were “ingeniously concealed” in a plastic crate placed inside the passenger’s trolley bag, customs officers said.
In November, customs officers seized a passenger carrying a wriggling live cargo of 12 turtles, and a month before, four hornbill birds, all on planes arriving from Thailand.
In September, two passengers were arrested with five juvenile caimans, a reptile in the alligator family.


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Indian smuggler caught with 44 venomous vipers in luggage

A bucket full of snakes that were seized from an Indian national’s luggage upon his arrival in Mumbai from Thailand on Sunday. Photo: X/MumbaiCus3

Three spider-tailed horned vipers were also found in the passenger’s luggage on Sunday. Photo: X/MumbaiCus3

The passenger stopped on Sunday also had five Asian leaf turtles stowed away in luggage. Photo: X/MumbaiCus3

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In Thailand, a monitor lizard was found with the body of a baby in its mouth. Photo: Facebook/Nakon45

Rescuers search for monitor lizard near Bangkok. Photo: Facebook/Nakon45

Resident in Thailand releases 2 snakes in hissy fit over neighbour’s noisy dog

A resident in a condominium in Thailand, annoyed by the incessant barking of his neighbour’s dog, has released two snakes in protest. Photo: เจ๊ม้อย v+/Youtube


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Southeast Asia

Customs officials in Mumbai also found three spider-tailed horned vipers and five Asian leaf turtles in the passenger’s checked baggage


Customs officials in Mumbai also found three spider-tailed horned vipers and five Asian leaf turtles in the passenger’s checked baggage.


Indian smuggler caught with 44 venomous vipers in luggage

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Customs officials in Mumbai also found three spider-tailed horned vipers and five Asian leaf turtles in the passenger’s checked baggage

Customs officials in Mumbai also found three spider-tailed horned vipers and five Asian leaf turtles in the passenger’s checked baggage