KLIA gets dubious honour as top wildlife smuggling hub to India airports

Summary

• KLIA has been identified as a top wildlife smuggling hub into three major Indian airports, with a Thai airport sharing the dubious honour.

• Previous arrests indicate that the Chennai International Airport used to be the main destination for wildlife smugglers.  

• However, recent figures show that the Kempegowda International Airport now tops the list, followed closely by Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport.

KLIA has just gained another international accolade, albeit a notorious one, as being one of the top wildlife smuggling hubs along with its Thailand counterpart, the Suvarnabhumi International Airport, into three of India’s major airports.

For several years, the Chennai International Airport (formerly known as Madras International Airport) in Tamil Nadu state used to be the preferred destination in India for wildlife smugglers travelling from the above-mentioned airports.

However, in recent years, the claim of notoriety has gone to the Kempegowda International Airport in Bengaluru, the capital of the Indian state of Karnataka, according to a special report by The New Indian Express today.

Using data obtained via India’s Right to Information Act, the news article said that between 2024 and this year, Customs officials at Kempegowda International Airport have made 23 wildlife seizures originating from Thailand and Malaysia.

The Chennai International Airport made only around 10 similar seizures during the same period.

However, in 2023 and 2024, the Chennai International Airport tops the list with 17 wildlife seizures, compared to only four in Kempegowda International Airport.

The data showed that Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, in the state of Maharashtra, is also emerging as another destination for wildlife smugglers, with 10 seizures recorded in 2024 and 2025, up from only one or two cases in the previous year.

Indian authorities believed the same international syndicates are behind the wildlife smuggling racket in all the airports and have just shifted their point of arrival due to stringent measures mounted by enforcement agencies at Chennai International Airport.

READ MORE | KLIA wildlife smuggling persists as MAHB defends its efforts

This is evidenced by the fact that many carriers arrested at Kempegowda International Airport are natives of Tamil Nadu coming from Chennai, Tiruchirapalli, and nearby southern districts in the state, such as Ramanathapuram and Sivagangai.

Indian investigators have also identified the syndicate’s links to Tamil kingpins in Thailand and Malaysia.

Smuggled species

Animals seized at the Kempegowda International Airport between 2024 and this year include anacondas and California king snakes; exotic birds like cockatoos, hornbills, birds of paradise; mammals like marmoset monkeys, siamang gibbons; and other reptiles like iguanas, American alligators, and bearded lizards.

More than 600 animals have been seized, with 24 smugglers arrested.

Bengaluru is an ideal destination for animal trafficking, as many of them are sold through well-advertised pet shops in the city.

Indian Customs and Wildlife officials have also arrested owners of two such pet shops in the city who were involved in the illegal wildlife trade.

An analysis by Traffic, an international NGO, of 60 such seizures from January 2022 to May 2025 showed the wildlife seized represented at least 87 species, including seven that are critically endangered.

“The range and diversity of the species involved is incredible, far beyond just India and Thailand - from naked mole rats native to the Horn of Africa, to the Endangered Fiji Banded Iguana found only on the islands of Fiji and Tonga,” Traffic said in a statement on Tuesday.

Traffic called for greater collaboration between India and Thailand on in-depth investigations into criminal networks “supplying this seemingly endless conveyor belt of wildlife-stuffed bags”.

Kanitha Krishnaswamy, director of Traffic in Southeast Asia, stressed that there is an urgent need for countries in Southeast Asia involved in such wildlife trafficking to shut this airport underworld and “stop the networks that have been nimbly moving their illicit cargo through the region’s airports”.

Increased smuggling via KLIA

Malaysia is considered a major transit point for the trafficking of endangered animals to other parts of Asia.

In March, Transport Minister Anthony Loke reprimanded Malaysia Airports Holdings Berhad (MAHB) over the rising number of cases of wildlife being smuggled out of the country.

In April, the Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability Ministry said 10 investigation papers have been opened in connection with wildlife smuggling at KLIA between 2023 and April this year.

The cases involve the smuggling of exotic and native species, including turtles, snakes, birds, and primates.

According to Indian authorities, there were eight cases of wildlife seizures involving flights from KLIA and KLIA2 in 2023, while the figure rose to 12 in 2024.

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