CHENNAI: Customs officials seized 12 ball pythons and two king hat were smuggled from Thailand on Tuesday.
The customs officials were checking the passengers who arrived from Bangkok on Monday at midnight. The officials found a 27-year-old passenger from Tamil Nadu was carrying a plastic basket with him and on suspicion they intercepted the passenger and during questioning,
he told the customs officers that the basket contained toy snakes. He also took the snakes out and showed them to the customs officers.
However, the customs officials were not satisfied with his answer and during further check, they found all of them were real snakes.
On information, the officials from the Wildlife Control Bureau visited the Chennai airport and upon testing the officials confirmed that 12 snakes were ball python and two were king snakes.
During the inquiry, the passenger told the officials that he smuggled the snakes from Bangkok since it was available there for a low price and he had planned to sell the snakes illegally in India.
The customs officials arrested the passenger and decided to send the snakes to Bangkok on Wednesday.