Mumbai. Indian customs officials in Mumbai said a passenger from Thailand was stopped with live snakes. This is the third such seizure this month.

“Customs officials… Another attempt at wildlife smuggling, including 16 live snakes seized from passengers returning from Thailand, has been foiled,” customs officials at the Indian financial centre’s airport said.

The passengers who arrived on Sunday were arrested. “Further investigation is underway,” the customs agency said in a statement. Living snakes often included reptiles sold in the pet trade, and most of the venomous or affecting humans was very weak.

Among them were garter snake, rhino rat snake and Kenyan sand boa. In early June, customs officials intercepted dozens of toxic vipers from Thailand.

A few days later, authorities stopped another passenger carrying 100 animals, including lizards, sunbirds and tree-climbing possums.

Traffic, a wildlife trade monitor that fights the smuggling of wild animals and plants, warned of a “very worrisome” trend in smuggling driven by foreign pet trade.

More than 7,000 live and dead animals have been seized on the Thailand-India air route in the last three-and-a-half years.