By Mohamed Attia
Cairo International Airport customs authorities, under the supervision of Dr. Maged Moussa, successfully thwarted an attempt to smuggle a significant quantity of dangerous wildlife, including poisonous snakes, scorpions, insects, spiders, and other exotic creatures, into Egypt.
The incident took place during routine inspections of passengers arriving on an Aeroflot flight from Russia. Walid Ali Hajjaj, head of the Green Line Committee, noticed suspicious behavior from a foreign passenger attempting to exit through the central district gate. The passenger’s bags were scanned using X-ray machines by customs officers Ahmed Rushdi and Mahmoud Shaaban, revealing organic densities inside the luggage.
Further inspection, led by Ahmed Sabry Attia, the section head supervising arrivals at Terminal 2, along with customs officer Osama Abdel Tawab, confirmed the presence of live snakes and scorpions concealed within the passenger’s belongings. Ali Al-Salfoot and Sobhi Rabie Jaber, directors of the Customs Department, were immediately notified, and veterinary quarantine officials and wildlife experts were summoned to examine the seized items.
The search uncovered 45 scorpions, including Vietnamese forest and Brazilian yellow varieties, along with 65 other species, among them four highly venomous red and black spitting cobras. Additionally, customs officials discovered a variety of rare snakes, insects, spiders, cockroaches, and worms.
Veterinary and quarantine officials confirmed that the passenger did not possess the required health certificates for the animals, nor were the items approved for import. The smuggled creatures also fell under the protection of international conventions such as CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora), which regulates the trade of endangered species.
Sobhi Rabie Jaber, Director of Customs, ordered the filing of Customs Seizure Report No. 74 against the passenger. The case was referred to the Public Prosecution, while the seized animals were handed over to veterinary quarantine authorities for isolation, pending further legal procedures.
This successful operation reflects the vigilance and professionalism of Cairo International Airport’s customs and security teams in safeguarding Egypt’s borders from biological and environmental threats.
