BANGKOK: An Indian man has been arrested at Thailand’s main airport attempting to smuggle out a menagerie of live creatures including a white desert fox and a raccoon, officials said. Southeast Asian kingdom is a major transit hub for wildlife smugglers who often sell animals to China and Vietnam although recent months have seen an uptick in trafficking to India. Abilash Annaduri (21) was found with 17 live creatures of six species, Thailand’s Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation said in a statement. It said his haul included a white desert fox, a raccoon, two iguanas and a pair of white pythons as well as three monitor lizards and eight marmoset monkeys. All of animals were found in plastic baskets, hidden underneath snacks and packed in luggage, as he passed through X-ray machines at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport en route to Chennai. Officials estimated creatures would be worth around 98,000 baht ($2,760). But they were perplexed as to how animals came into Thailand.–Agencies

Published in The Daily National Courier, August, 18 2022

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