Chennai airport customs seize gibbons smuggled inside pet bags, trafficker arrested
by Utsav RoyIn two weeks, customs officers at the airport foiled the latest successful second Thai-to-India gibbon smuggling bid. The Indian passenger’s checked luggage was found holding agile and eastern grey gibbons concealed in pet bags under chocolates.
The incident took place at Chennai Airport, in southern India’s Tamil Nadu, on July 1.
Visuals show that there is a live gibbon sitting inside a luggage bag at an airport.
According to reports, customs officials at Chennai Airport detained an Indian passenger arriving on a Thai Airways flight in the early hours of July 1 after he raised suspicion during routine checks. Upon searching his trolley bag, officers uncovered two live monkeys concealed in pet carriers beneath layers of chocolates and packaged food items. The animals were identified by the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau as an agile gibbon (Hylobates agilis) and an eastern grey gibbon (Hylobates funereus), both endangered and in high demand in the illegal exotic pet trade.
Customs sources revealed that the man was likely a courier working for a smuggling network. The animals were immediately seized and handed over to wildlife experts for care, before being deported back to Thailand on the same flight. The individual was subsequently remanded in judicial custody.
Authorities confirmed this as the second attempt in just two weeks to smuggle the same gibbon species through Chennai Airport, suggesting a specific and organized demand. Officials credited their profiling systems for the successful interception. The Wildlife Crime Control Bureau continues to investigate the operation, aiming to identify those orchestrating these trafficking efforts from behind the scenes. The incident has renewed concerns over rising exotic wildlife smuggling through international air routes.