Australian Authorities Seize Hundreds of Lizards Planned To Be Illegally Exported to Hong Kong

(Photo : Getty Images/SAEED KHAN)

Hundreds of native Australian lizards and reptiles worth more than $1 million have been captured by New South Wales Police before being allegedly illegally shipped to Hong Kong.

Illegal Export Of Reptiles

Raptor Squad detectives discovered over 260 lizards in homes or in shipped packages after an investigation into the illegal reptile trade began in September of last year.

According to the NSW Police, a criminal syndicate was catching Australian reptiles in the wild and transporting them to Hong Kong for financial gain.

When the animals were transferred overseas, they were allegedly kept in horrible conditions and crammed into small containers, chip packs, cylinders, and purses.

Before being placed in separate containers, they were supposedly firmly bound and covered in material

After nine shipments containing 59 live lizards were confiscated en route to Hong Kong, a 41-year-old woman and a 54-year-old man were captured on Pendle Hill in December and charged with illegally exporting native wildlife.

Police said they later discovered 16 native lizards and eggs in a crate sent to Hong Kong, as well as another 60 in a storage room at Pendle Hill.

On December 29, 2023, a 59-year-old man was detained after his vehicle was stopped in Panania. He faces 13 charges, including intentionally directing the actions of a criminal group and exporting restricted native species without permission.

A 31-year-old man was also arrested on January 5 after 118 lizards, three snakes, eight eggs, and 25 dead reptiles were discovered in an East Hills apartment.

At Grenfell, another search warrant found four lizards hidden in suitcases.

The NSW Police discovered 257 lizards and transported them to various zoos and wildlife parks for veterinarian examinations.

Based on an average of $5,000 per lizard, the total worth of all reptiles seized is around $1.2 million.

High Demand Overseas

According to the police, the 59-year-old guy was behind the operation, the 31-year-old man was in charge of catching the lizards, and the 54-year-old man and 41-year-old woman were in charge of transporting and exporting the lizards.

The authorities added that the 31-year-old suspect went "into remote areas of the Northern Territory, Western Australia" on a regular basis, trapping lizards and bringing them back to Sydney.

Superintendent Andrew Koutsoufis of the Raptor Squad called the crime "cold-blooded and cruel."

"Thankfully the trapped reptiles were found alive and have since been sent to various local zoos and local wildlife parks for health examinations before they will be ideally released back into the wild," he said.

The scheme was thwarted by postal facilities, who discovered the lizards after screening the parcels they were in before notifying authorities.

After seizing a cargo of live lizards heading for Hong Kong, Strike Force Whyaratta was formed in September last year to investigate illicit native animal and reptile exports.

Reptiles are in high demand on the international market and are collected for a variety of reasons, including pet and therapeutic uses.

According to the World Wildlife Fund, Hong Kong is a key global transit point for the illegal trade in live animals.

On a research published in 2022 by the ADM Capital Foundation, four million live animals from at least 84 nations were smuggled into the city over a five-year period.