Maldivian tourist caught smuggling 25 live birds out of Thailand

Officials at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok caught a tourist attempting to smuggle 25 exotic live birds out of Thailand on a flight to the Maldives yesterday morning, reports KhaoSod.

Customs officials made quite the discovery when they inspected luggage destined to board flight PG711 to Malé in the Maldives at 9.20am, reported Prasert Sornsathapornkul, the Director of the Division for the Protection of Wildlife and Wild Plants under the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation.

Stuffed inside two suitcases, officials found 25 live birds including black kites, buffy fish owls, and barred eagle owls – all CITES-listed species – with an estimated collective value of 100,000 baht.

Smuggling live wildlife out of Thailand without permission is a violation of the Wildlife Conservation and Preservation Act (2019), the Animal Epidemic Act (2015), and the Customs…