A 30-year-old man was caught smuggling 52 reptiles including horned lizards and snakes into the United States (US) from Mexico.
US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers nabbed the man at the San Ysidro border.
43 lizards and nine snakes were found tied up in small bags and concealed in the man’s jacket, pants pockets and groin area.
He reached the border crossing in a truck at 3 am on February 25.
The reptiles were spotted during inspection of the vehicle. The man was arrested and brought to Metropolitan Correctional Centre.
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“Smugglers will try every possible way to try and get their product, or in this case live reptiles, across the border,” CBP Director of Field Operations in San Diego Sidney Aki said in a statement.
“In this occasion, the smuggler attempted to deceive CBP officers in order to bring these animals into the US., without taking care for the health and safety of the animals,” Aki added.
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“CBP enforces hundreds of laws at the border for more than 40 different government agencies, in part to help stop smuggling attempts like these which can lead to trafficking of possibly endangered species.”
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