Wildlife Crime

Royal Thai Customs intercept three attempts to smuggle tortoise and freshwater turtle in less than a week

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3 November 2013 - Royal Thai Customs at Suvarnabhumi Airport recovered 72 Black Pond Turtles (Geoclemys hamiltonii) and eight other turtles, including six Crowned River Turtles (Hardella thurjii), one Three-keeled Land Tortoise (Melanochelys tricarinata) and one Indian Eyed Turtle (Morenia petersi), from two bags that arrived on a flight from Bangladesh.

6 November 2013 - Royal Thai Customs and DNP CITES Officers at Suvarnabhumi Airport seized 475 turtles, which include 423 Indian Star Tortoises (Geochelone elegans) and 52 Black Pond Turtles (Geoclemys hamiltonii). The animals were found inside 2 uncollected suitcases, which arrived on Thai Airways flight from Dhaka, Bangladesh

8 November 2013 - Thai Royal Customs at Suvarnabhumi Airport arrested a Pakistani national on a flight from Lahore, with four suitcases containing 470 Black Pond Turtles. These turtles varied in size from 6cm to 25cm long.

The smuggling was in violation of the section 27 of Customs Act, B.E. 2469; the section 16,17 of Customs Act, B.E. 2482; and the section 23, 24 of Thailand Wild Animal Reservation and Protection Act, B.E. 2535.