Thais send smuggled tortoises home to Tanzania as evidence against suspected wildlife traffickers

BANGKOK — More than a hundred baby tortoises, most of them dead, have been returned to Tanzania from Thailand as evidence in a case against a wildlife smuggling network, the international police organization Interpol said Friday.

The 116 tortoises were discovered hidden in the luggage of a Ukrainian woman at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport more than two years ago, it said. Of the total, 98 have since died, but all were handed over Thursday for use in criminal proceedings in a ceremony attended by Thai and Tanzanian officials, Interpol said. No reason was given for the deaths.

They included endangered or vulnerable species such as pancake tortoises, radiated tortoises and Aldabra giant tortoises. All are protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

Tortoises are commonly removed from the wild for sale as exotic pets.

The smuggler fled Thailand but was eventually tracked down and arrested in Bulgaria, Interpol said. Her arrest helped police map a larger wildlife trafficking network, resulting in the arrests of 14 additional suspects in an operation involving Thai and Tanzanian police and officers from Interpol.

The surviving tortoises will be quarantined and cared for while experts assess whether they can be put back into their natural habitat.

''Wildlife trafficking is a serious global threat that disrupts ecosystems and harms communities while enriching organized crime groups," said Cyril Gout, Interpol's acting executive director of police services.

Interpol estimated in 2023 that the black market for illegal wildlife products is worth up to $20 billion per year, noting that ''poaching and the illegal wildlife trade has become a major area of activity for organized crime groups and is increasingly linked with armed violence, corruption and other forms of organized crime.''

Thailand continues to be a major hub for the trade. In May last year, about four dozen lemurs and more than 900 tortoises originating in Madagascar were seized in the southern province of Chumporn after having apparently transited Indonesia. They were returned to their homeland at the end of last year.