Norwegian reptile smuggler

A smuggler has been arrested in Norway with 14 royal pythons and 10 albino leopard geckos duct taped to his body.
The 22-year-old was trying to sneak the creatures into the northern European country, along with a tarantula in his bag, customs officer Helge Breilid said.

The Norwegian citizen was stopped for a routine customs check in the southern town of Kristiansand after getting off a ferry from Hirtshals, Denmark.

Officers found the spider before deciding to give the young man a full body search.

Mr Breilid said the non-venomous creatures were hidden in stockings - one for each snake - taped to the man's abdomen.

The geckos were in boxes strapped onto his legs.

"Customs officers quickly realised the man was smuggling animals because his whole body was in constant motion," Mr Breilid was quoted by newspaper VG as saying.

Kristiansand police lawyer Johann Martin Kile told VG the man would be released after he agreed to pay a 12,500 Norwegian crown (£1,380) fine.

The reptiles have been handed over to a security firm until Norwegian authorities decide what to do with them.

The Copenhagen Post's website said the smuggler told officers he bought all the animals in Denmark.

But he did not explain if they were for him or to sell to other people, the Post continued.

"He told us he was crazy about reptiles," Mr Breilid added.

Royal pythons are the smallest species in the python family.

I saw this in the paper today, very amusing!

I read that earlier, are all reptiles banned in general there? I know they are in one of the Scandanavian countries

Yep, saw this today - why would you smuggle royals?

Dave

As far as im aware, there is an import and keeping ban on all reptile and exotic invertabrate species in norway. I was contacted a while back by a norweigan asking if he could purchase a green anaconda, and could i meet him at the ferry port in harwich! So i guess royals would fetch a relatively high price there

I feel sorry for the guy; I would like to bet all those reptiles were captive bred in the EU and none of them are rare so he should be allowed to keep them, The Norwegian laws stink.
And God forbid us if ever the UK adopt a complete import ban on reptiles, if they did
I’m sure at some point lots of us would break the law too.
I was reading the other day that they are trying to ban the breeding of some endangered reptiles that are bred in captivity, that’s madness there will always be a small demand for rare species and if people cant obtain them legally through captive breeding then some would collect them illegally from the wild and they then would place more pressure on those wild populations.
Is the world going mad!!

David Nixon wrote:Yep, saw this today - why would you smuggle royals?

Dave

Maybe he smuggled a King Cobra earlier on in the year...