Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur airport targeted by exotic animal traffickers: watchdog

Malaysia’s main airport in Kuala Lumpur has resurfaced as a major transit hub used by global traffickers of exotic animals in the growing illegal trade, according to a wildlife trade watchdog.

The assessment comes after two smuggling attempts were foiled last week at Mumbai’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport, where Indian customs officers intercepted five critically endangered baby siamang gibbons that were flown in via the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA).

The seizures highlighted the KLIA’s emergence as a key stop for wildlife smuggling, with traffickers using it to move a diverse array of species, from Malaysian primates like the endangered siamang to rare tortoises and iguanas, said Kanitha Krishnasamy, Southeast Asia director of the UK-based wildlife trade watchdog Traffic.

While the trade of exotic animals between Southeast Asia and South Asia was not new, there had been a shift toward selling live species, Krishnasamy said.

“ What’s become more prominent in recent years is the influx of live exotic animals into India where there seems to be a growing fad of acquiring exotic species for the pet trade,” Krishnasamy told This Week in Asia on Wednesday.

“This is a fairly new evolution of the market in the past couple of years, which needs to be scrutinised.”