Indian customs officers in Mumbai said they stopped a plane passenger arriving from Thailand with a wriggling cargo of live snakes — the third such seizure this month.

"Customs officers ... foiled yet another wildlife smuggling attempt, 16 live snakes ... seized from passenger returning from Thailand," customs officers said. They said it took place at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport in India.

The passenger, who arrived on Sunday, has been arrested, the customs agency said in a statement, with "further investigation underway."

The live snakes included reptiles often sold in the pet trade, and were largely non-venomous, or with venom too weak to affect people. The agency posted images on social media of the snakes that were discovered.

They included garter snakes, a coastal banded California king snake, a rhino rat snake and a Kenyan sand boa, among others.

Customs officers at Mumbai airport are more used to seizing smuggled gold, cash or cannabis — but instances of wildlife seizure have seen a gradual rise recently.

In early June, customs officers stopped a passenger smuggling dozens of venomous vipers, also arriving from Thailand. Days later, officers stopped another traveler carrying 100 creatures including lizards, sunbirds and tree-climbing possums.

In February, customs officials at Mumbai airport also stopped a smuggler with five Siamang gibbons, a small ape native to the forests of Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. Those small creatures, listed as endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, were "ingeniously concealed" in a plastic crate placed inside the passenger's trolley bag, customs officers said.

In November, authorities found a passenger carrying a wriggling live cargo of 12 turtles.

"Very troubling" trend
Wildlife trade monitor TRAFFIC, which battles the smuggling of wild animals and plants, has warned of a "very troubling" trend in trafficking driven by the exotic pet trade.

More than 7,000 animals, dead and alive, have been seized along the Thailand-India air route in the last 3.5 years, it said.

TRAFFIC said its analysis showed that while most cases involve animals smuggled out of Thailand, more than 80% of interceptions happened in India.

"The almost-weekly discoveries and diversity of wildlife en route to India is very troubling," said TRAFFIC's Southeast Asia director Kanitha Krishnasamy.

Many of those captured were alive, which "shows that the clamor for exotic pets is driving the trade," she added.

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