Indian customs officials arrested a passenger arriving in Mumbai from Thailand for smuggling dozens of venomous snakes, including 44 Indonesian pit vipers and 3 spider-tailed horned vipers, hidden in checked baggage. Authorities also found 5 Asian leaf turtles. Photos showed the reptiles squirming in buckets. Wildlife smuggling cases like this are rare at Mumbai airport, where gold and drug seizures are more common. However, officials have recently intercepted other exotic animals, including gibbons, turtles, hornbills, and caimans, all smuggled from Southeast Asia.
