Thai authorities apprehended a teenager at a Bangkok airport after discovering nearly $9,000 worth of tortoises attached to her body.
Officials at Suvarnabhumi Airport's departure terminal grew wary of the 19-year-old Taiwanese woman's behavior as she prepared to board a flight to Taipei. Upon investigation, staff found 30 Indian star tortoises — 29 alive and one dead — taped underneath her clothing, per RNZ News.
According to Thailand's wildlife conservation department, the individual had used tape to secure the animals so they couldn't move, placed them into cloth bags, and affixed them to her body to avoid detection.
The customs department noted that the tortoises, which are protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species agreement, hold significant value on the black market, estimated at around $9,000.
The woman now faces charges for illegally transporting animals and evading customs controls. Authorities are also looking into whether she is part of a broader smuggling operation.
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) lists Indian star tortoises as vulnerable, often targeted due to international demand for exotic pets.
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The illegal wildlife trade is a very lucrative enterprise. A report from 2016 estimated that global wildlife trafficking generated up to $23 billion in revenue per year. Bangkok has become a hotbed for exotic wildlife smugglers.
A passenger traveling from Bangkok was recently stopped at the Chennai International Airport in India with 31 animals stuffed into a speakerbox and his luggage. He was transporting iguanas, African tortoises, ball pythons, and a few other protected creatures.
Illegal wildlife trafficking has numerous significant impacts. It has pushed many animal species, like rhinos, to the brink of extinction. The northern white rhino is effectively extinct, as only two females remain.
Trafficking animals and plants also spreads invasive species around the globe. Invasive species cost governments billions of dollars per year. One estimate puts the cost of invasive species in the U.S. at over $1 trillion in the last 60 years.
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While Indian star tortoises aren't considered invasive, they are under threat, and don't even make good pets. They are shy creatures that don't like being held and require very specific dietary, housing, and environmental conditions, which is why they have high mortality rates in captivity — especially ones that are caught in the wild.
The 29 surviving tortoises were handed over to wildlife conservation officials for care and to be used as evidence.
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