More than 1,500 turtles found inside luggage in Manila airport

This is no way to treat turtles of any kind.

More than 1,500 exotic turtles were seized by the Philippine Bureau of Customs (BOC) in Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) yesterday, an amount that is said to be worth millions.

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 Tortoise, Redfoot Tortoise, Sulcata Tortoise, and Red-eared Slider. Most of them were found wrapped in duct tape. The turtles are worth about PHP4.5 million (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.

In its statement, the BOC reminded that illegal wildlife trading is a violation of Republic Act (RA)10863 or the Customs Modernization and Tariff Act and RA 9147 or the Wildlife Resources Conservation and Protection Act.

Violators may face imprisonment of one year and one day to two years and a fine of PHP20,000 (US$386.75) to PHP200,000 (US$3,867.46).

In September, Hong Kong authorities revealed that smuggling of endangered species including turtles was rising despite tougher penalties. Wildlife trafficking has long been linked to the city because of its free trade port.