- - Airport authorities uncover passengers' plot to smuggle over 5,000 invasive turtles into country

Lauren WellbankJanuary 14, 2026 at 10:10 PM

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There are plenty of places I would expect to see turtles, like pet stores, in the wild, and as they appear on television as everyone's favorite Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. However, the one place I would absolutely never expect to see a turtle, let alone 5,000 of them, is stuffed into a suitcase in an airport in India.

That's exactly what customs officials found when they discovered two women were smuggling an invasive species of turtle into the country through their checked baggage. Now, the women face possible jail time while the turtles will hopefully be returned to their natural habitats, where they belong. Here's what we know.

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Photo by herkisi on Getty Images5,000 turtles rescued from a smuggler's suitcase in India

The Air Intelligence Unit had an unusual day when they came face-to-face with 5,000 red-eared slider turtles that had been packed tightly into a series of plastic containers and hidden inside of the suitcases of a pair of women.

The alleged smugglers flew into Tiruchy International Airport, according to Times of India. They arrived there from Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia. The publication says that authorities were altered to the possible situation via a tip, which prompted them to check the bags once the duo arrived. The women were taken into custody due to violations of the Wildlife Protection Act.

A team of officials from the forest department then arrived to examine the turtles, which were identified as the invasive species, before sending them back to Kuala Lumpur. According to the Times of India, the investigation is ongoing.

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Trafficking exotic animals through the airport is a big problem

As unusual as this news sounds, it's hardly out of the ordinary. In fact, a United News of India report from 2024 said that 4,967 small green turtles and 19 yellow turtles were seized at the Anna International airport. Once again, the flight originated from Kuala Lumpur and contained a massive collection of turtles, but they are hardly the only ones caught up in these crimes.

According to an extensive report from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, turtles and tortoises made up only 4 percent of the illegally trafficked animals between 2015 to 2021. The group that sees the most international trafficking are corals, which make up 16 percent of all seizures, then the list breaks down further, like this:

Crocodilians at 9 percent

Elephants at 6 percent

Bivalve mollusks at 6 percent

Carnivores at 5 percent

Parrots and cockatoos at 4 percent

Orchids at 4 percent

And then the list goes on. You can get a full accounting of the report by visiting the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime's website. While some people may think of these as victimless crimes—after all, many of these creatures are sold at a very high price to people who desperately want to keep and care for them—that's hardly the case.

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According to the World Wildlife Fund W(WF), poaching and the associated trafficking that comes along with it causes untold harm to the environment. "Populations of species on earth declined by an average 40 percent between 1970 and 2000—and the second-biggest direct threat to species survival, after habitat destruction, is wildlife trade," a statement on their website reads. And, that doesn't take into consideration the lives lost when non-native species are introduced into new habitats, either by those who purchased them illegally and realized they could no longer care for them, or by smugglers who decided to release them when they became too much of a liability to keep.

My personal opinions about animal smuggling aside, it's clear that the trafficking of wild animals continues to be a big problem. Hopefully, as more high profile cases like this come to light, future smugglers will think twice about taking part in the trade and leave the animals in their natural habitats where they belong.

This story was originally published by TravelHost on Jan 14, 2026, where it first appeared in the Airlines section. Add TravelHost as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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