The passenger was “intercepted” after arriving on an AirAsia flight on Friday, the Chennai customs department said on Saturday.

Upon examination of her checked-in baggage, 22 snakes of various species and a chameleon were found and seized under the customs and wildlife protection laws, it said.

The reptiles were packed in transparent plastic containers, according to local media reports.

Reptiles are among the species in high demand in the illegal wildlife trade in India and their seizures at airports are not uncommon.

In January this year, 45 ball pythons, three marmosets, three star tortoises, and eight corn snakes were seized at Chennai airport from a passenger arriving from Thailand.

In October 2022, authorities seized 1,204 reptiles of exotic species such as ball python, green iguana, monitor lizard, corn snakes and African spurred tortoise at Chennai, according to an annual report of India’s Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI).