Man Arrested for Packing a Drugged Orangutan in His Luggage

A Russian passenger was arrested in Bali trying to leave the country with a drugged orangutan in his luggage. He was stopped at security on Friday night where the two year old male was found inside a rattan basket.

You know the movie plot where a key character appears to be dead and is smuggled out of danger in a casket, only to be revived by the ‘antidote’ to a strange drug cocktail at a key moment later in the film?

The man was carrying “injections and drugs in his bag” that he said he intended to use on the orangutan during a connection in Seoul.

The passenger claims that a friend bought the creature for $3000 and convinced him “that it would be okay to take the orangutan back to Russia to keep as a pet.” Of course he doesn’t explain why,

  • If it was ok that he needed to smuggle the orangutan

  • He also had 5 lizards nad 2 geckos in his luggage


Ngurah Rai International Airport, Denpasar

The man faces up to 5 years imprisonment for attempting to take a protected species out of Indonesia.

About Gary Leff

Gary Leff is one of the foremost experts in the field of miles, points, and frequent business travel - a topic he has covered since 2002. Co-founder of frequent flyer community InsideFlyer.com, emcee of the Freddie Awards, and named one of the "World's Top Travel Experts" by Conde' Nast Traveler (2010-Present) Gary has been a guest on most major news media, profiled in several top print publications, and published broadly on the topic of consumer loyalty. More About Gary »

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  1. He should have declared the creature was a comfort animal and no one would have been the wiser. He wouldn’t have needed the drugs or needles and would have easily cleared security.

  2. Oh for heaven’s sake! ANOTHER drugged-orangutan-in-the-luggage story? Let’s get back to the politics please!

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