MONDAY, 10.30AM
POLICE swooped down on a reptile smuggling racket on Sunday and arrested five suspected members of a country-wide syndicate which has been shipping small reptiles to various foreign destinations. In an operation code-named ”Cobra”, police seized dozens of snakes, tortoises, infant crocodiles and other small reptiles from homes in Gauteng and the Western Cape.
The swoop came after a two-year undercover investigation by several police units around the country. Superintendent Pieter Lategan of the endangered species protection unit in Pretoria said the unit had recovered pythons, puff-adders, water-dragons and exotic tortoises. ”We even found three crocodiles in a bedroom on a Pretoria smallholding,” he said.
The animals were being shipped illegally to destinations in the United States and Europe. Police said reptiles are the fourth most common commodity in illegal trade after drugs, diamonds and weapons.