AAP (Australia) 13 April 06 Japanese fined over lizard smuggling bid

A Japanese tourist has been ordered to remain in jail until he pays $31,000 in fines for trying to smuggle six shingleback lizards out of Australia.

Mitsuhiro Yokota, 22, pleaded guilty in the Perth Magistrates Court to six counts of exporting a regulated native specimen.

He also pleaded guilty to two counts of unlawful possession of protected fauna.

The court was told four of the reptiles, commonly known as bobtail lizards, came from Rottnest Island, 19km off the Perth coast, and two were from the mainland.

The six lizards were detected in Yokota's baggage after he checked in at Perth international airport for a Singapore-bound flight on March 26.

"There were air holes in the container and there was no food or water in the container, it was placed in between the clothes in the bag," Carolyn Pretroboni, counsel representing the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions, told the court.

"A mobile phone had been taped to the outside thus obscuring what was inside."

Ms Pretroboni told the court Yokota had visited Australia five times since April 2005 and was well aware of Australia's laws.

"It was for commercial gain," Ms Pretroboni said.

A rare bobtail lizard, such the four from Rottnest Island, could fetch $9,500 each in Japan, while the plain variety could cost $4,500, Ms Pretroboni said.

All the lizards had survived, with two from the mainland being released back into the wild.

The four bobtails from Rottnest Island could not be returned to the popular Perth tourist destination and instead had been sent to the Perth Zoo, she said.

Duty lawyer Natasha Erlandson, representing Yokota, told the court his client had come to Western Australia for a holiday and was considering studying English in Perth.

"They were to be pets, he did not fully realise the law over here," Ms Erlandson said.

She said Yokota worked for his father's company in Japan, was studying via correspondence, and hoped to enter the real estate industry.

His family had agreed to pay any fines, she said.

Magistrate Michael Wheeler fined Yokota $4,000 each for the six smuggling charges, $24,000 in total, and $5,000 and $2,000 on the possession of protected fauna charges.

The maximum sentence on each count is two years' jail with fines of up to $13,000.

Mr Wheeler ordered Yokota to remain in jail until the fines were paid, with a maximum of six months to be served.
Japanese fined over lizard smuggling bid

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• AUS Press: Japanese fined over lizard - W von Papineäu, Sat Apr 15 08:25:12 2006