HA'ARETZ (Israel) 14 October 04 Reptile smugglers caught between a croc and a hard place
Police officers discovered several crocodiles housed in a Pardes Katz apartment yesterday, a day after two of the reptiles were netted in a Hod Hasharon home.
Police said information received led them to the two baby crocs, which were being kept in a water-filled tank. The apartment owner and his friend, both in their 20s, told detectives they thought the animals were iguanas and they had been given them by someone else.
The crocodiles are believed to have been stolen from a farm in the south last week. Crocodiles are considered dangerous and raising them in private homes is not allowed.
Meanwhile, Hamat Gader resort, which has the largest crocodile farm in the Middle East, is prepared to take in all crocodiles owned by Israelis. Two small crocodiles were recently found being raised as pets in Hod Hasharon and Kfar Sava homes. Police suspect hundreds of crocodile eggs have been smuggled into Israel and that people acquired crocodiles in various ways.
General manager Danny Lubinstein invited people to bring crocodiles to the site and hand them over anonymously.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/488426.html

BBC (London, UK) 14 October 04 Race to find stolen crocodiles
Israeli police are desperately searching for hundreds of missing baby crocodiles stolen from a breeding farm in the south of the country.
Wildlife experts fear the African crocodiles might be released into the country's waterways.
"It is a race against time," a spokesman for the Nature and Parks Authority told Reuters news agency.
The missing crocodiles would grow to a size dangerous to man within three years, he said.
"The concern is they will enter fresh water lakes and rivers where they will be a threat to people and to the environment," he added.
The crocodiles are thought to have been illegally sold as exotic pets.
So far, wildlife officials and police have found 10 of the crocodiles in raids on apartments in central Israel where the baby reptiles were found swimming in bathtubs and sinks, Reuters reported.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3743640.stm

HA'ARETZ (Israel) 13 October 04 Police net crocodiles in apartment for second time in days (Itim)
Police officers discovered a number of baby crocodiles housed in a home in Pardes Katz on Wednesday, a day after two of the scaly reptiles were netted in a Hod Hasharon home.
Police said intelligence information led detectives from the Dan region to the small crocodiles in the central Israel apartment, which were being kept in a container filled with water.
The apartment owner and his friend, both in their 20s, told detectives that they thought the animals were iguanas, and that they had received them from someone else.
Both sets of crocodiles are believed to have been stolen at the same time, in a robbery last week at a farm in the south of Israel.
Crocodiles are considered dangerous, and it is forbidden to raise them in private residences.
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/spages/488384.html