{"id":262966,"date":"2025-10-31T13:57:15","date_gmt":"2025-10-31T13:57:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/262966\/"},"modified":"2025-10-31T13:57:15","modified_gmt":"2025-10-31T13:57:15","slug":"endangered-primates-1-alive-and-1-dead-found-in-checked-bag-at-airport-in-india","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/262966\/","title":{"rendered":"Endangered primates, 1 alive and 1 dead, found in checked bag at airport in India"},"content":{"rendered":"

Indian customs officers have arrested a plane passenger after discovering two endangered gibbons stuffed inside a checked bag, the latest animals seized from smugglers at Mumbai’s airport.<\/p>\n

One of the tiny animals from Indonesia was dead, while the other, in a video shared by Indian Customs<\/a>, was seen cradled in the arms of an officer, softly hooting before covering its face with its arm.<\/p>\n

Customs said the passenger, who had travelled from Malaysia via Thailand, was given the rare animals by a wildlife trafficking “syndicate” for delivery in India. Officers acting on “specific intelligence” arrested the passenger in Mumbai on Thursday.<\/p>\n

“A subsequent search of their checked baggage, a trolley bag, led to the discovery and seizure of two Silvery Gibbon (Hylobates moloch), one live and one found dead, which were concealed in a basket,” the customs department said.<\/p>\n

\"india-screenshot-2025-10-31-070456.png<\/p>\n

Indian customs officers have arrested a plane passenger after discovering two endangered gibbons stuffed inside a checked bag, the latest animals seized from smugglers at Mumbai’s airport.<\/p>\n

Mumbai Customs<\/p>\n

The department also said that almost 8 kilograms of hydroponic weed was found hidden in the passenger’s baggage.<\/p>\n

Wildlife trade monitor TRAFFIC, which battles the smuggling of wild animals and plants, warned in June of a “very troubling” trend in trafficking driven by the exotic pet trade.<\/p>\n

More than 7,000 animals, dead and alive, have been seized along the Thailand-India air route in the last 3.5 years, it said.<\/p>\n

Home in the wild for the small Silvery Gibbon is the rainforests of Java in Indonesia.<\/p>\n

They are threatened by the loss of forests, hunting and the pet trade, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.<\/p>\n

Estimates for the primates left range from about 2,500 to 4,000.<\/p>\n

During the duty of 29-30.10.2025, the officers at Airport Commissionerate, Mumbai Customs Zone-III, made a seizure of suspected NDPS (Hydroponic Weed) weighing 7.97 Kgs having an illicit market value of approx. Rs. 7.97 crores in 01 case and recovered Silvery Gibbon(Hylobates\u2026 pic.twitter.com\/K1uWfCDJuz<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Mumbai Customs-III (@mumbaicus3) October 31, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n

The seizure follows several recent smuggling busts at the same airport.<\/p>\n

Just a week earlier, customs officials said they had arrested another smuggler carrying snakes, tortoises and a raccoon.<\/p>\n

In June, Mumbai customs intercepted two passengers arriving from Thailand with dozens of venomous vipers<\/a> and more than 100 other creatures, including lizards, sunbirds and tree-climbing possums, also arriving from Thailand.<\/p>\n

In February, customs officials at Mumbai airport stopped a smuggler with five Siamang Gibbons, an ape native to the forests of Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Exotic primates have also been smuggled at the U.S.-Mexico border recently. Jim Stinebaugh, a special agent with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,\u00a0told CBS News<\/a>\u00a0that nearly 90 baby spider monkeys have been confiscated at the Texas-Mexico border in the last 18 months \u2014 and that’s believed to be just a fraction of the spider monkeys illegally brought into the United States.<\/p>\n

\n More from CBS News\n <\/p>\n