More than 1,500 exotic turtles smuggled through Hong Kong were seized by the Philippine Bureau of Customs (BOC) in Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) yesterday, an amount said to be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The turtles were found inside four pieces of luggage left behind by an unidentified Filipino who entered the country via Philippine Airlines flight PR311 from Hong Kong, the BOC NAIA’s statement reads. They were found at NAIA’s Terminal 2 in Pasay City.
There were a total of 1,529 turtles of different species, including Star Tortoises, Redfoot Tortoises, Sulcata Tortoises, and Red-eared Sliders. Most were found wrapped in duct tape. The turtles are worth about PHP4.5 million, or more than HK$681,000 (about US$87,017.74), the BOC said.
The agency has turned the animals over to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ Wildlife Traffic Monitoring Unit.
It said that the four pieces of luggage had been X-rayed by airport personnel and were left unclaimed in the arrivals area.
Hong Kong’s outsize role as a hub for wildlife trafficking has come under increasing scrutiny in recent months. In September, authorities revealed that smuggling of endangered species including turtles was rising despite tougher penalties.
In January, meanwhile, a major report by the Hong Kong Wildlife Trade Working Group said that that “not only is the trade in legal and illegal wildlife at a significant and unsustainable scale, it is likely to get worse,” and that as a major hub in the wildlife product trade, Hong Kong “should and could do more to disrupt the associated criminal activity.”
As if to drive the point home, the city has since seen massive busts of pangolin scales, elephant ivory, and rhino horn.
Despite the harsher penalties for wildlife smuggling, the report’s authors say sentences are still too lenient, and that wildlife crime should be included under the Organised and Serious Crime Ordinance.
In their statement, Philippines customs authorities noted that illegal wildlife trading is a violation of the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act and the Wildlife Resources Conservation and Protection Act, and is punishable by up to two years in prison and a fine of up to more than US$3,800.
