Customs seize blue iguanas, pythons, Persian squirrels from city-man

CHENNAI: At the city airport, Customs officials recovered blue iguana, pythons and Persian squirrels, which were smuggled from Bangkok to Chennai on Monday. Officials, who were checking passengers arriving from Bangkok on Monday midnight, found that a 30-year-old man from Chennai carrying two plastic baskets.

On suspicion, they intercepted him. While being questioned about the contents in the basket, he said that he was taking his pet dogs with him. Since officials were not satisfied with his response, they opened the basket and found 16 pythons, 30 blue iguanas, and 4 Persian squirrels in it. The passenger did not have any proper documents for bringing these animals to Chennai.

Officials from the wildlife department visited the airport and advised Customs officials to send the animals back to Thailand. Later, the passenger was arrested. The animals will be sent back to Thailand on Wednesday morning.