THAILAND (TR) – Police in Bangkok on Sunday arrested a Japanese woman for allegedly attempting to smuggle 10 baby otters to Japan, reports Fuji News Network (Nov. 1).
On Sunday, police arrested the woman, a 21-year-old university student living in Tokyo, after she was found with the otters piled in a basket placed inside a suit case at an airline check-in counter at Don Mueang International Airport.
The woman, who was scheduled to depart on a flight to Narita International Airport in Chiba Prefecture, claimed that she did not know taking the animals out of the country was illegal.
“I thought they were cute,” the woman was quoted by police. “I bought them for around 3,000 yen each at a market. The employee said it would be no problem to take them to Japan.”