Wildlife
smuggling remains to be one of the most lucrative illegal business
worldwide even today, with wildlife smuggling transactions generating
Billions of US Dollars annually. The USA customs alone seize over
$10 million worth of illegal wildlife each year, but that only
scratches the surface. Indochina remains the worldwide hub of this
criminal and felonious activity. Here are some very weird ways in
which people have tried to smuggle in wildlife in the past.
In
2002, a man returning to USA from Bangkok was caught hiding two
endangered pygmy monkeys, called slow lorises (Nycticebus spp.), in
his underwear. When customs officials opened up his luggage, a bird
of paradise (Paradisaeidae spp.) flew out. He was also traveling with
50 rare orchids. Highly suspicious, officials checked him thoroughly,
when monkeys were found out.
Customs
officials in Melbourne, Australia, stopped a woman who had arrived
from Singapore In 2005, after hearing mysterious "flipping"
noises coming from around her waist. They found an apron under her
skirt designed with pockets holding 15 plastic bags filled with water
and 51 tropical fish.
A
crocodile was smuggled on board a domestic flight in 2010 from the
Democratic Republic of the Congo. The reptile escaped from a duffel
bag in the cabin and panicked the passengers and crew, which resulted
in the plane crash that killed 20 of 21 passengers. According to the
sole human survivor, the crocodile actually survived the crash but
was later killed.
A
salesman of exotic animals tried to to transport 247 reptiles and
spiders to Spain, but failed when x-ray technicians caught him in
Argentina in 2011. The exotic and endangered species included boa
constrictors, poisonous pit vipers, and spiders. They were packed
inside plastic containers, bags, and socks.
Also
in 2011, a man from United Arab Emirates, was caught trying to
smuggle two leopards and two panthers as well as an Asiatic black
bear and two macaque monkeys, packed into his luggage at Bangkok's
Suvarnabhumi International Airport. All animals were less than two
months old, and had been drugged for the journey. Some of them were
stored in flat cages, while others were placed in canisters with air
holes.
A
Vietnamese man, travelling from Australia to New Zealand last week,
now joins the rank of these infamous crooks. When this man walked
through customs at Auckland airport in New Zealand, officials
suspected something was fishy, because liquid was seeping from the
bulging pockets of his cargo pants.
When
asked to explain, the man initially said that he was carrying water
from the plane because he was thirsty. Obviously no one believed him
and he was grilled. During examination it was found that his dripping
pockets contained live fish. The man was found to carry seven fish,
all an unidentified species of Cichlid. He had secretly hidden them
in two plastic bags in his pockets. The man told the customs that he
was carrying the fish for his friend.
New
Zealand authorities say that the man will face charges under the
Biosecurity Act, which carries maximum penalties of five years’
jail or a NZ$100,000 ( US$78,000) fine. They feel that this appears
to be a deliberate attempt to smuggle fish into the country without
any consideration of the biosecurity risk involved, something that is
taken very seriously.
My
feeling is that the punishment is to soft as a deterrent, and he
deserves a much harsher punishment including a jail term.
2nd
September 2013
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