Sunday morning 185 baby turtles were found wrapped in plastic inside a red suitcase at the Baltra airport in the Galapagos Islands. The passenger and his luggage were bound for Guayaquil, Ecaudor.

These animals were declared as ‘souvenirs’ but were discovered going through x-ray. Sadly, 10 of the tortoises had already died. An additional five died on Monday. The rest “were not in good health.”

Staff at our airport detected in hours of the morning today Sunday, March 28, a shipment of 185 tortoises intended to be sent to the city of #Guayaquil. X-ray machines located at the loading terminal and their operator’s training, they could determine that there were irregularities in the suitcases that had been declared to be carrying ′′ memories “.

A “healthy juvenile tortoise could be sold for about $5,000, and each was believed to have been taken from the wild. A police officer has been arrested and charged “with a crime against wild flora and fauna, which is punishable by up to three years in prison.”