A Malaysian has just been busted at the Thai border with a menagerie of animals that included 51 endangered tortoises, 6 raccoons and 2 baby orangutans, who were alarmingly, being carried in a suitcase.
The 63-year-old man was stopped at the Songkhla checkpoint, and it was revealed that a man in Perlis, Malaysia had hired him to drive the wildlife into Thailand for RM127 (about US$30).
Veterinary doctors say the orangutans were less than 6 months old, and had to be taken to a shelter for care.
Animal welfare authorities site Thailand as being a global hub for exotic animal trade, with animals from Borneo and Sumatra being brought in to be distributed to private zoos, or used in traditional medicine in China and Vietnam.
The man nabbed was a low-level mule, while the kingpins behind the trade remain at large.
