5,000 snakes, lizards saved from the pot
NST, 5 Dec 2006
PUTRAJAYA: Customs officers saved close to 5,000 snakes, lizards and tortoises from the cooking pots of a neighboring country on Saturday night.
According to Customs preventive director Datuk Mohamed Adnan Ariffin, this was one of the biggest seizures of its kind so far this year.
Acting on a tip-off, a six-member Customs preventive team raided a belacan (shrimp paste) factory near the Sungai Kapal beach in Kampung Sungai Kepal, Penggerang.
Several men escaped when they spotted the raiding party, but the officers saw two lorries parked nearby.
A driver and his co-driver said they had been told to transport the consignment to an undisclosed location, Adnan said.
On checking, the officers found 50 crates containing 444 snakes, mainly cobras, 191 boxes with 2,488 lizards, commonly known as Bengal monitor lizard (varanus bengalensis), and another 131 crates with 1,889 tortoises. The consignment was worth more than RM100,000. Another 11 crates of tortoises were found stacked under some trees near the beach.
“We believe these animals were meant for the restaurants of a neighboring country,” said Adnan.
As the men could not produce any documents they were arrested for attempting to smuggle the animals out of the country.
Licenses are required to export such items and there is a five per cent export duty.
On Sunday, a man believed to be the owner of the factory, and the employer of the lorry drivers, was arrested near Penggerang.
The owner, in his 40s, will likely face charges of possessing prohibited goods and trying to avoid payment of export duties.