Over 1 500 Turtles Seized in Filipino Airport

Over 1 500 live turtles wrapped in duct tape were confiscated by police at an airport in the Philippines.

According to reports, approximately 1 529 turtles were discovered on Sunday, 3, March, in four pieces of unclaimed luggage left in the arrivals area of Ninoy Aquino International Airport in the capital city of Manila.

In parts of Asia, turtles are considered an exotic delicacy or are used in traditional medicine. However, trading of turtles is prohibited in the Philippines.

Customs officials believe that the turtles – collectively worth nearly five million pesos – had been brought over from Hong Kong by a Filipino passenger, who had abandoned them upon learning about the airport’s crackdown on illegal wildlife trafficking.

Should the passenger be caught, the penalty for the offence is spending up to two years in jail and paying a fine of up to 200 000 pesos.

The turtles have since been handed over to the Wildlife Traffic Monitoring Unit.