A 36 year old United Arab Emirates citizen, who was waiting to check in for his first class flight at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi International Airport, has been detained by undercover anti-trafficking officers for attempting to smuggle a bizarre mix of rare creatures. The animals had been drugged and were headed for Dubai.

Steven Galster, director of the Freeland Foundation, an anti-trafficking group based in Thailand, was present at the apprehension and explained that they had been monitoring the man since his black market purchase of the rare and endangered animals.

Galster described what they encountered when the animals were recovered:

We haven’t seen this mixture [of animals] before. It’s amazing. We were really surprised.

When Galster and the team opened up the suitcases that the man was attempting to use to smuggle the animals in, they discovered that there were two leopards, two panthers, an Asiatic black bear and two macaque monkeys, all reportedly about the size of puppies.

Some of the animals yawned when they were discovered and Galster continued:

It looked like they had sedated the animals and had them in flat cages so they couldn’t move around much. It was a very sophisticated smuggling operation.

We’ve never seen one like this before. The guy had a virtual zoo in his suitcases.

Some of the animals had been placed inside canisters with air holes and authorities have said the man was part of a larger trafficking network that they were now attempting to bring down.

It’s alleged that leopards and panthers fetch about R35 000 in Thailand but it was presumed they’d fetch more in Dubai and the Middle-Eastern market.

These kinds of animals are often quite highly prized pets in these parts of the world and it was still unknown what their destined fate was to have been had the seizure not taken place.

[Source: Guardian]