Venomous vipers found in checked bags on a flight from Thailand to India illustrate a "very troubling" trend in wildlife trafficking driven by the exotic pet trade, a nongovernmental organization warned Tuesday.
Indian customs officials last week arrested an Indian national after finding dozens of snakes and several turtles in their luggage.
Among them were several spider-tailed horned vipers, a venomous species only described by scientists in 2006 and classed as "near-threatened" by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.
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