Two Romanian women arrested for smuggling rare, endangered iguanas in tube socks
Customs officers at Britain’s Heathrow Airport got a big surprise as the discovered several rare iguanas in tube socks, authorities reported.
Thirteen rare, endangered San Salvador Rock Iguanas were found inside a suitcase coming in from the Bahamas by customs officers. One had died in transit, but the remaining dozen were alive, wrapped inside individual socks.
Two Romanian women, aged 24 and 26 were arrested en route Dusseldorf in Germany.
“This particular species of iguana is incredibly rare, only a few hundred are believed to be left in existence,” said Grant Miller, head of the Border Force, CITES, team. “So this was a remarkable and very important seizure.”
“Given the circumstances we found them in it seems incredible that all but one survived such a long flight.
“The surviving animals were dehydrated and are now under the supervision of a specialist vet.
They are protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
The surviving animals were dehydrated and are now under the care of a specialist vet who stated this it was “incredible that all but one survived the flight.”
Border Force officers in the year 2012/13 made more than 690 seizures under Cites regulations, up from 516 the year before.
Among them were 326 ivory items and 93 live animals.