Crime
Japanese College Student Arrested at Don Mueang International Airport for Trying to Take 10 Otters Back to Japan
Police lead Japanese suspect Kaede Yamaguchi to be interrogated at the Don Muang station in Bangkok on Tuesday.
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BANGKOK – A Japanese female college student has been detained in Thailand on suspicion of attempting to smuggle 10 baby otters out of the country without permission, Thai police said Tuesday.
The otters were found in a basket inside the woman’s suitcase at Don Mueang International Airport late Sunday as she was about to leave the country with them on a Tokyo-bound flight.
Wildlife officials at the airport found the 10 otters in a basket hidden in the suitcase.
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She was quoted as telling police interrogators, “I did not know that it was illegal.”
The suspect said she saw the otters being sold in a Bangkok market for 1,000 baht each and felt sorry for them so she decided to take them home with her, according to the Thai Authorities.
Police, identified her as Kaede Yamaguchi, a 22-year-old, fourth-year university student who arrived in Thailand last Friday.
She has reportedly been charged with unauthorized possession of protected wildlife.
