CANADIAN PRESS (Toronto, Ontario) 24 September 08 Spiders and snakes found parcel posted to Sydney
Sydney, Australia: U.S. and Australian authorities are investigating the smuggling of snakes and venomous spiders that were found in a parcel in Sydney, an official said Wednesday.
Customs Service officers in Australia's biggest city discovered five harmless pythons and two dangerous South American tarantulas at the Sydney airport last week when they X-rayed a package that had been posted from the United States, Customs investigations manager Richard Janeczko said.
The creatures were later killed because they posed a quarantine risk, Janeczko said in the capital, Canberra.
Janeczko would not say from where in the United States the parcel - declared as baby toys and shirts - had been posted.
He said Australian officials based in Washington were communicating with U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials on a U.S. investigation into who had sent the parcel.
In Australia, charges were expected to be laid against at least one alleged importer after customs officers and police raided a Sydney home Tuesday and seized evidence, Janeczko said.
Importing snakes or spiders without a license can attract maximum penalties of 10 years in prison and a 110,000 Australian dollar (US$92,000) fine.
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THE AGE (Melbourne, Australia) 24 September 08 Customs nab snake smugglers (Larissa Ham)
[COLOR="Green"]Photo at URL below: Two of the confiscated snakes. (Australian Customs Service)
Thankfully the passengers of a plane bound for Sydney last week have not suffered the same grim fate as those in the B-grade flick Snakes on a Plane.
But those responsible for smuggling two green tree pythons, two royal pythons, a reticulated python and two South American tarantulas into the country could soon be dealing with some nasty business of their own.
Customs in Sydney yesterday executed search and seizure warrants during investigations into an attempted smuggling of the illegal creatures in a package from the United States.
Officers x-rayed the package at a freight forwarder's depot at Mascot on September 19.
The contents of the package had been declared as baby toys and T-shirts but the x-ray indicated the presence of other items.
The snakes were wrapped in white calico bags and the spiders in clear plastic containers, and were euthanased because of their potential quarantine risk.
The find follows another case last week, where three men were arrested and charged for attempting to smuggle lizards out of Western Australia.
Customs investigators and NSW Police yesterday searched a Cambridge Gardens House in Sydney's west.
Customs national manager of investigations, Richard Janeczko, said charges were expected to be laid in the near future.
"Australia has strict laws governing the import of live animals. Wildlife smuggling is a cruel trade carried out with little or no thought for the welfare of the animals," he said.
"Australia's unique environment can be easily put at risk by such attempts."
Under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 it is illegal to import regulated live specimens without permits. The maximum penalty for offences is 10 years' imprisonment, a fine of $110,000 or both.
Customs nab snake smugglers
