Women caught trying to smuggle hundreds of live animals on to a flight

Nithya Raja, 38, and Zakia Sulthana, 24, were caught carrying a host of animals – including 50 chameleons and 35 turtles – on to a flight from Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi International Airport.

Sathon Konggoen, the chief of the wildlife inspection office at the airport, said: "This kind of case has happened many times because the animals have expensive price tags in India.

"Animal trafficking is usually detected at the Thai-Myanmar borders and domestic airports to a certain extent."

The suspected wildlife smugglers were exposed when their luggage was put through an X-ray machine at the airport.

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