Chennai airport officials made a dramatic series of seizures that included exotic animals and smuggled gold in a string of busts, which brought up fresh concerns about illegal wildlife trafficking and cross-border smuggling. 

These incidents reflect the growing challenges that law enforcement faces as smuggling tactics become more egregious and dangerous. 

What's happening?

According to DT Next, customs officers at Chennai International Airport intercepted a male passenger arriving from Bangkok. To their surprise, they discovered two live monkeys that were later identified as an agile gibbon and an eastern grey gibbon (also known as the northern grey gibbon). 

The monkeys were hidden inside his checked baggage, and the man claimed he planned to keep them as personal pets, but did not have the proper documentation. 

These primates are both protected species and considered endangered wildlife by the IUCN. The man was detained under The Wildlife Protection Act in India, and the monkeys were deported back to Thailand. 

In a separate case, customs officials seized 409 grams of gold worth Rs. 38 lakh ($44,080) from a man coming in from Dubai, which led to his arrest. The gold was hidden inside the man's rectum. 

A third case led to an arrest when a passenger flying in from Singapore smuggled 150 grams of gold inside the mechanisms of his suitcase. And a fourth smuggling incident, also 150 grams of gold inside a suitcase, led to another arrest, all on the same Wednesday. 

While the smuggled items are different, the incidents reveal how global trade routes are being exploited, with consequences for ecosystems, public safety, and national security. 

Why are smuggling busts important?

Smuggling endangered animals across borders can introduce diseases, disrupt food chains, and wipe out local populations that are already struggling to thrive or survive. 

Wildlife traffickers often target gibbons due to their rarity and appeal to the exotic pet trade. 

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They're listed under Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), meaning they are at high risk of extinction and protected from international sale under nearly all circumstances.

At the same time, smuggling goods like undeclared gold erodes border security and often overlaps with and enables criminal networks involved in trafficking of all kinds. Financially, according to the UNODC in 2023, wildlife trafficking alone is worth up to $20 billion a year, while gold smuggling can cost countries millions in revenue annually, like in Ghana, as reported by Reuters. 

What's being done to stop it?

Groups like CITES and Interpol work with the International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime to keep track of wildlife trafficking and share information when smugglers try to move animals across borders. 

Cracking down on these criminal networks takes diligent checks at airports, better tools for scanning bags, and people simply paying close attention.

You can help by not contributing to the exotic pet trade by buying exotic pets and staying alert to suspicious travel or trade. Every time someone chooses not to support this kind of trade, it makes it harder for smugglers to keep going.

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