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Man jailed for smuggling eight snakes in trousers
A Swedish tourist who tried to smuggle eight baby snakes, four of which were venomous king cobras, into Australia in his trousers has been jailed for two months.
Per Johan Adolfsson, 28, was sentenced in Sydney's Central Local Court for importing an endangered species and making a false and misleading statement.
Adolfsson was searched by customs officers at Sydney Airport on September 22, after arriving from Bangkok on a Thai Airways flight.
They found four venomous baby king cobras and four baby emerald tree boas strapped to his legs in homemade pouches. The cobras had died during the nine-hour flight, but the boas survived.
Adolfsson's lawyer, Michael Priddis, said his client had bought the snakes for 1,500 Australian dollars (US,000) from a professional breeder. It was not clear whether the snakes were bought in Thailand or Sweden.Man jailed for smuggling eight snakes in trousers
A Swedish tourist who tried to smuggle eight baby snakes, four of which were venomous king cobras, into Australia in his trousers has been jailed for two months.
Per Johan Adolfsson, 28, was sentenced in Sydney's Central Local Court for importing an endangered species and making a false and misleading statement.
Adolfsson was searched by customs officers at Sydney Airport on September 22, after arriving from Bangkok on a Thai Airways flight.
They found four venomous baby king cobras and four baby emerald tree boas strapped to his legs in homemade pouches. The cobras had died during the nine-hour flight, but the boas survived.
Adolfsson's lawyer, Michael Priddis, said his client had bought the snakes for 1,500 Australian dollars (US$1,000) from a professional breeder. It was not clear whether the snakes were bought in Thailand or Sweden.
"It was a very haphazard, small-scale, and amateurish operation," said Priddis. "He is not part of a smuggling ring."
Priddis said Adolfsson, a glass worker and window fitter, had been suffering depression and alcohol abuse following an injury at work in Sweden.
He had planned to sell the snakes in Australia for A$5,000 (US3,500) to fund an eight-day holiday and lift his spirits.
"It is a bizarre way to have a holiday," Priddis told the court.
Magistrate Paul Macmahon said the court took such offences seriously because exotic animals could bring into Australia sickness that could devastate local wildlife.
© Associated Press
Story filed: 11:46 Wednesday 22nd October 2003
"It was a very haphazard, small-scale, and amateurish operation," said Priddis. "He is not part of a smuggling ring."
Priddis said Adolfsson, a glass worker and window fitter, had been suffering depression and alcohol abuse following an injury at work in Sweden.
He had planned to sell the snakes in Australia for A,000 (US3,500) to fund an eight-day holiday and lift his spirits.
"It is a bizarre way to have a holiday," Priddis told the court.
Magistrate Paul Macmahon said the court took such offences seriously because exotic animals could bring into Australia sickness that could devastate local wildlife.
© Associated Press
Story filed: 11:46 Wednesday 22nd October 2003
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/0 ... index.html
Stop! Are those live fish under your skirt?
'Flipping' noises from woman catch airport officials' attention
Wednesday, June 8, 2005 Posted: 8:30 AM EDT (1230 GMT)
MELBOURNE, Australia (Reuters) -- An Australian woman was found to be carrying 51 live tropical fish after custom officials were alerted by "flipping" noises coming from beneath her skirt as she arrived at Melbourne airport.
On closer inspection, officers discovered the woman had strapped on an apron of plastic water-filled bags containing the fish, the Australian Customs Service said in a statement on Tuesday.
"During the search, customs officers became suspicious after hearing 'flipping' noises coming from the vicinity of her waist," said the statement.
The 43-year-old woman arrived in Melbourne on a flight from Singapore last Friday. Customs are still trying to determine what type of fish she brought into the country and have not yet charged her with an offense.
She could face charges for breaking quarantine and customs laws for bringing in the fish without giving a declaration.
Copyright 2005 Reuters.
EU snaps up Gaza croc woman
A Palestinian woman was found to have three live crocodiles strapped to her stomach when she was stopped by EU officials at Gaza's border with Egypt.
The reptiles, each around 40-50cm (15-20 inches) long, were taped to the woman's body beneath her dress.
But despite her loose fitting robe, suspicions were raised by her girth, an EU spokeswoman told the BBC.
The woman told border guards she intended to sell the crocodiles to a zoo in Gaza City.
She was stopped last week but later released.
The reptiles were sent back to Egypt.
EU spokeswoman Maria Telleria Chavarri said the discovery had caused amazement among border officials.
She said border guards have in the past foiled attempts to smuggle exotic birds and two lion cubs into Gaza.
"It's illegal to smuggle such animals. Crocodiles are protected under UN regulations," she added.
The EU's Border Assistance Mission has been assisting with security in the area since November 2005.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle ... 495491.stm
From The Times
May 25, 2007
Getting snakes on a plane
Customs officers at Cairo airport have detained a man they caught trying to smuggle 700 live snakes – including two poisonous cobras – on to a plane bound for Saudi Arabia. Police officers were stunned when a passenger, identified as Yahia Rahim Tulba, after being asked to open his carry-on bag, told them that it contained live snakes. He showed the snakes to the police but asked them not to come too close. Mr Tulba was arrested for violating export laws. (AP)
© Copyright 2007 Times Newspapers Ltd
Garden gnomes hid smuggled snakes
Australian customs officials have found live reptiles hidden in the hollowed insides of ceramic garden gnomes sent as gifts from England.
A total of seven snakes and eight lizards were found inside three of the pottery figurines.
The snakes, destined for two addresses in Sydney, were found when the parcels were opened by customs officials.
The two addresses where the gnomes were heading have been raided but no arrests have been made.
"When the package was opened, the officer spotted several snakes moving about. The package was immediately resealed," Australian customs said in a statement.
Due to quarantine regulations, all the reptiles were put down.
A special licence is needed to bring live reptiles into Australia.
People found guilty of smuggling wildlife into the country face up to 10 years in prison and a fine of 110,000 Australian dollars ($92,700; £46,700).
Published: 2007/06/19 09:51:23 GMT
© BBC MMVII
Indian police arrest man carrying horde of snakes
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-10802480
By Narayan Bareth BBC News, Jaipur
Cobra recovered by Jaipur police Many of the snakes were reportedly ill-treated
A man has been arrested on suspicion of breaking wildlife laws after he was found with 43 snakes in his car, police in the Indian city of Jaipur have said.
Rajesh Kapoor was arrested with the snakes, including eight protected cobras, in a cotton bag, police said.
Mr Kapoor has previously been linked with idol smuggling and antiques theft, superintendent of police Hawa Singh Ghumariya said.
A snake rescue team was looking after the snakes.
The arrested man runs a fitness centre in Jaipur and told journalists that he hoped to sells the snakes on the international market.
Police say that he claimed to have got the snakes from snake charmers - but their investigations revealed this to be untrue and he was arrested on suspicion of various offences in contravention of India's wildlife laws.
A snake rescue team led by Piyush Shashtri has now been deployed by police to treat the serpents, some of which are suffering from injuries, police said.
They said that three species of snake were found, but only the cobras were poisonous. It is believed they were ill-treated and kept in cruel conditions.
''Snakes are in big demand on the international market for their skins and venom," Mr Shashtri said. "Body parts are also in demand to use in herbal medicine."
Mr Ghumariya said that the snakes will be released into the forest "after completing the legal process".
And again:rynner said:Perhaps we should have a 'Life imitating Fiction' thread...
Ton of live snakes found on plane in Vietnam
By Thomas Bell, South East Asia Correspondent
Last Updated: 1:44am GMT 19/01/2008
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jh ... ake118.xml
Careful, that's real leopard: man smuggles half a jungle in first class
Thai authorities find baby leopards, panthers, monkeys and bear drugged and crammed inside luxury passenger's luggage
A first-class passenger has been arrested at Thailand's international airport after being found carrying suitcases filled with baby leopards, panthers, a bear and monkeys. The animals had been drugged and were headed for Dubai.
The man, a 36-year-old United Arab Emirates citizen, was waiting to check-in for his flight at Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi international airport when he was apprehended by undercover anti-trafficking officers, who had been monitoring him since his black market purchase of the rare and endangered animals, according to the Freeland Foundation, an anti-trafficking group based in Thailand.
When authorities opened the suitcases, the animals yawned, said Steven Galster, director of Freeland, who was present during the bust. There were two leopards, two panthers, an Asiatic black bear and two macaque monkeys – all about the size of puppies.
"It looked like they had sedated the animals and had them in flat cages so they couldn't move around much," Galster said. Some of the animals had been placed inside canisters with air holes.
Authorities have said the man was part of a trafficking network. They are searching for accomplices.
"It was a very sophisticated smuggling operation. We've never seen one like this before," Galster said. "The guy had a virtual zoo in his suitcases."
Thailand is a hub for illegal wildlife trafficking but authorities typically find rare turtles, tortoises, snakes and lizards that feed demand in China and Vietnam. Finding such an array of live mammals is unusual.
"We haven't seen this mixture (of animals) before," Galster said. "It's amazing. We were really surprised."
In Thailand leopards and panthers fetch roughly $5,000 apiece on the black market but their value in Dubai was presumably higher, Galster said. It was not known if the animals were destined to be resold or kept as exotic pets, which is popular in the Middle East.
escargot1 said:How cruel, to incinerate them. I'm assuming it was done when they were alive.
(US Customs have been known to shred live birds so I can fully believe this. )
No crueller than how other molluscs and lobsters are killed/cooked though I suppose. That's never done for me, though.
escargot1 said:Then you can slice them really thinly.
JamesWhitehead said:Some years ago, I watched one of those fly-on-the-wall shows, in which a large, African lady was taken to one side by customs officers to discuss the amazing number of giant snails she had secreted about her person.
The word "secreted" is the first word you will dwell on. Person second. :shock:
A Canadian man taped 51 live turtles to his legs and groin and tried to hide them under sweatpants in an attempt to smuggle the reptiles over the Detroit border crossing, according to federal prosecutors in Michigan.
The man was captured as part of a surveillance operation conducted by US Fish and Wildlife Service agents. An official with the service said there has been an increase in turtle smuggling in the last year, which they attribute to demand in Asian food and collector markets.
“These turtles, by the time they get to the end-collector, they can be worth anywhere from $1,300 to $1,500 a turtle,” said Ed Grace, deputy chief law enforcement officer with the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
Prosecutors say Kai Xu and Lihua Lin attempted to smuggle several species of North American pond turtles out of the US and into Canada.
On 5 August, two fish and wildlife agents say they watched Xu disappear behind two semi-trailers in a Detroit parking lot for about 10 minutes before reappearing with, “irregularly shaped bulges under Xu’s sweatpants on both legs”. ...
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/s ... -us-border
Useful for cold weather situations.Who hasn't kept kittens in their trousers at some point?
That poor little thing
Following an assessment by veterinarians, the tiny cat was later taken to the Arignar Anna Zoological Park in Chennai, where it will be cared for,