CHENNAI: Customs officials recovered around 5000 Red Eared Sliders from unclaimed baggage at Chennai airport on Saturday.

The Batik Air flight from Kuala Lumpur arrived at the Chennai airport on Friday at midnight.

After all the passengers had taken their luggage from the Conveyor belt the security officers noticed two suitcases were unclaimed for a long time in the Conveyor belt.

Soon the officers alerted the bomb squad and the squad who rushed to the spot checked the baggage they found there was nothing suspicious inside and when they opened the suitcases they found there were Red red-eared sliders inside them.

Later the turtles were handed to the customs officials and the officials found that there were nearly 5000 red eared slider turtles.

The officers suspected that the smuggler might have left the baggage and escaped from the airport fearing being caught in the exit.

The turtles were sent back to Kuala Lumpur as per the guidance of the Wildlife Department and the customs officials are investigating to identify the passenger who dropped the luggage and escaped from the airport.