India News | Customs Officials Seize Exotic Wildlife at Bhubaneswar Airport

Bhubaneswar, Mar 29 (PTI) Customs officials on Saturday seized exotic wildlife, including king snakes, monitor lizards and turtles, at Biju Patnaik International Airport (BPIA) here.

The seized wildlife concealed in chocolate boxes were being smuggled from Thai capital Bangkok to Chennai, Injeet Kumar Mohanty, a Customs official engaged at the airport, said.

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Acting on a tip-off, the luggage of a person hailing from Chennai was searched and the seizures were made, he said, adding the passenger was detained and he was being questioned.

A total of nine California king snakes, 10 pig nose turtles and 12 Nile monitor lizards were seized, of which three lizards were dead, he said.

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The wildlife species have been handed over to the forest department.

During preliminary investigation, it was found that the exotic species were being taken to the Tamil Nadu capital for sale, Mohanty added.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)