Overview
- Customs Air Intelligence Unit officers at Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport recovered 707 live red‑eared slider turtles from checked baggage of a passenger arriving from Bangkok Wednesday and detained a Chennai-based traveller.
- Officials said the animals were concealed without valid import permits and were seized under the Customs Act, the Wild Life (Protection) Act, 1972, and applicable CITES rules.
- Red‑eared sliders are a nonnative species that compete with India's native freshwater turtles for food and habitat and can carry Salmonella, posing ecological and public‑health risks if released.
- Customs personnel are feeding and stabilizing the turtles as per department policy and have launched a detailed investigation to identify the supply chain and final destinations for the shipment.
- Reporting links Thailand to wildlife transit routes and notes a domestic demand for sliders in informal pet markets, which investigators say may fuel organized or informal trafficking into India.