Snakes on a plane highlight Thailand-India trafficking, NGO warns
Indian customs officials last week
arrested an Indian national after finding dozens of snakes and several turtles in their luggage.
Among them were several spider-tailed horned vipers, a venomous species only described by scientists in 2006 and classed as 'near-threatened' by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.
The reptiles are among more than 7,000 animals, dead and alive, that have been seized along the Thailand-India air route in the past three-and-a-half years, said Traffic, a UK-based group that battles the smuggling of wild animals and plants.
'The almost-weekly discoveries and diversity of wildlife en route to India is very troubling,' said Traffic's Southeast Asia director Kanitha Krishnasamy.
Many of those captured were alive, which 'shows that the clamour for exotic pets is driving the trade', she said.
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