Joined: Sat May 29, 2004 11:46 pm
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Location: NC
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Thai Airport Smuggler Busted with Baby Leopards, PanthersA man was arrested Friday at the Bangkok international airport with suitcases full of baby leopards, panthers, monkeys and a bear.
The man was waiting to check in at Suvarnabhumi International Airport for a flight to Dubai when he was apprehended by undercover anti-trafficking officers. Officers had been monitoring him since he made the black market purchase of the animals.
The 36-year-old has not been identified, only that he was a citizen of the United Arab Emirates.
Inside his luggage were two leopards, two panthers, two macaque monkeys and an Asiatic black bear.
The animals, all about the size of puppies, had been drugged and placed in flat cages or canisters with air holes.
"It was a very sophisticated smuggling operation. We've never seen one like this before," Steven Galster, director of anti-trafficking group FREELAND Foundation, told the Associated Press. "The guy had a virtual zoo in his suitcases."
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"Behind every great fortune lies a great crime."
Honore de Balzac
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That other party, they work for people who don't need help.
That's all there is to it."
~Harry S. Truman
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