WA TODAY (Perth, Australia) 02 December 10 Snake smuggler fined after reptile haul discovered (Chalpat Sonti)
A man who tried to smuggle a death adder and 28 other reptiles from WA to NSW in plastic containers has been found guilty after a two-day court trial.
Neil Andrew Simpson, 46, of NSW, was found by the Perth Magistrates Court this week to have illegally possessed the reptiles.
Simpson, who was fined $2000 and ordered to pay $9735 in costs, was caught at Perth Airport on Anzac Day last year after Department of Environment and Conservation officers found plastic containers full of reptiles.
The haul, which also included pythons, geckos, blue-tongues and dragon lizards, had been flown from Newman to Perth en route to Sydney.
Meanwhile, a Nollamara man was fined $600 after being convicted of illegally keeping a two-metre-long south-west carpet python at his home.
Rikki James Piromalli, 33, was charged after police searched his home in January.
DEC prosecutions coordinator Gail Ritchie said carpet pythons could not be released in a different location from where it was found, due to the possible effects on the local gene pool of the species.
Snake smuggler fined after reptile haul discovered

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• AUS Press: Snake smuggler fined - W von Papineäu, Fri Dec 10 09:35:17 2010