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Recently, Thai authorities arrested a man, O. Visarnkol, and a woman, Clara Rahantamalala, for their roles in smuggling animals into Thailand. They had smuggled 54 ploughshare tortoises and 21 radiated tortoises, to be exact. Though that would be a large number of animals to smuggle into a country regardless, that number gains a different scope when you learn that there are only 400 ploughshare tortoises in the entire world. The pair had attempted to smuggle 13 percent of an entire species in a suitcase.

According to TRAFFIC, an organization that monitors wildlife trade, both species are critically endangered and are protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES). The ploughshare tortoise, in particular, is native only to the region of Madagascar, but has become prized to smugglers because of their beauty and scarcity. The radiated tortoise used to be abundant in number but, because of the pet trade, loss of habitat and hunting in its native habitat, the species is in danger of going extinct by the middle of the 21^st century, Mongabay reports.

The bag was registered to the Malagsy woman, who had traveled from Madagascar, via Nairobi, with her final destination in Bangkok. The Thai man was arrested when he tried to pick up the luggage at the carousel.

The man, Mr. Visarnkol, had been arrested and released earlier this year on a smuggling charge. It is believed that he was able to access the baggage carousel, despite the fact that he was not a passenger, due to the help of other people in the smuggling ring.

"We encourage the authorities to throw the book at these two. Making an example of them will hopefully serve as a deterrent for other smugglers," Chris Shepherd from TRAFFIC said to Mongabay. "Releasing people on bail does not seem to be part of an effective strategy to reduce the smuggling and illegal trade."

Fortunately, because the animals were smuggled for the pet trade and not for consumption, they were all found alive. They are currently being held at a breeding center in Thailand in the hopes that they can be returned to Madagascar as soon as possible. The longer that they kept in Thailand, with its climate foreign to the animals, the greater the risk of mortality.