World of the Bizarre

Airport authorities discover 47 live vipers inside man's luggage

By T.K. Randall
June 2, 2025 ·  2 comments

The vipers were concealed inside the man's luggage. Image Credit: X / Mumabi Customs-III According to reports, customs officials at an airport in Mumbai, India, intercepted a suspicious man returning from Thailand on Sunday.

Upon inspecting his luggage, they were stunned to find that he was attempting to smuggle 52 live reptiles into the country.

Among the illicit cargo were three spider-tailed horned vipers, five Asian leaf turtles and a staggering 44 Indonesian pit vipers - all protected species and illegal to import without proper permits. The shocking discovery echoes a similar incident from February, when officials at the same airport found five Siamang gibbons stuffed inside a passenger's trolley bag.

Just a few months earlier, in November, two travelers were also arrested for trying to sneak in 12 exotic turtles from Bangkok.

Animal smuggling through airports remains a serious and ongoing issue, with traffickers resorting to increasingly bizarre and sophisticated methods to evade detection.

Exactly where these animals would have ended up if they hadn't been found remains unclear.

Source: BBC News | Comments (2)

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