Tort Smuggling

[tarantulabarn]

not sure if anyone is interested but i came across these

1
Tortoise poachers face huge fines

Cape Town - Two Slovakian wildlife smugglers face fines that could total millions of rands after they were found guilty on Wednesday of illegally collecting suitcases full of tortoises in the Western Cape.
The men, Martin Kyskyn and Martin Juricek, both 27, will be sentenced in the Atlantis Regional Court on December 11.
They held hands in the dock as they were both convicted of hunting, possessing and transporting the distinctively-marked angulate tortoises without permits.
Kyskyn was also found guilty of offering a $500 bribe to the policeman who arrested them as they were collecting the reptiles along the roadside near Lambert's Bay on November 14 .
Cape Nature Conservation officials said the permit charges carried a fine of up to R10 000 each, or two years' jail, and that the men could in addition each be fined three times the commercial value of the tortoises.
Evidence in the case was that the tortoises would fetch from $300 to $800 each on foreign markets, depending on size and condition, but magistrate Andre Ferreira said in his judgement he was prepared to accept the lower figure for sentencing.
This could mean fines of just over R1 million each.
Kyskyn, who said he was a part-time hotel receptionist in Bratislava, told the court on Wednesday that he and Juricek came to South Africa on holiday to see Cape Town and "enjoy the sun".
Both of them have two passports - which Kyskyn said was common practice in Slovakia, in case the holder lost one while travelling.
The documents show that between them they have made trips to Indonesia, Mauritius, Madagascar and Peru since the beginning of last year.
When they were arrested, they had two suitcases crammed with tortoises in their rented car, and other tortoises stuffed into odd socks and cloth bags.
Several of the bags, apparently used in previous collecting trips, had "Chlamydosaurus kingi" scrawled on them in felt-tip pen. This is the Latin name of the Australian Frilled Lizard, which is also found in Indonesia, and is much sought after by collectors.
Kyskyn said his sister got them from a pet shop in his home town, which sold them filled with food for her guinea-pig.
During a break in court proceedings on Wednesday, officials also discovered two large dead dung beetles at the bottom of one of the bags.
Kyskyn claimed that they had collected the tortoises to play a practical joke by dumping them en masse on the Vredendal golf course one night.
"We wanted to call this project 'Golf Safari'," he said, speaking through a translator.
"The plan was simple. We wanted to pick up several tortoises - we didn't talk about an amount - and tip them over strategically onto the golf course.... We make fun of people very very often."
Investigators also found a number of flexible metre-long metal rods in the car, which Cape Nature Conservation special investigations head Paul Geldenhuys said would be used to extract lizards from cracks in rocks.
The men told the court that the rods were for braaing sosaties, but that they had never used them because they were unable to find any wood on their travels in South Africa.
Asked about a field guide to South African snakes and reptiles found in the car, Kyskyn said they bought it on arrival in Johannesburg.
"The reason why we bought this book was because we were afraid of poisonous snakes," he said.
He said he never read the section of the book which explained where angulate tortoises were found, and that a permit was required to collect them.
Magistrate Ferreira said he had no hesitation in rejecting Kyskyn's evidence as false.
"The explanation of the accused is so improbable that it borders on being ridiculous," he said. "These tortoises were meant to be exported and sold in foreign countries."
Juricek did not testify.
The two men are being held in custody
2
Suitcases full of tortoises found

Cape Town - Two Slovakian nationals were arrested with "suitcases full" of tortoises on the Cape West Coast this week, and are being held in custody after appearing briefly in court on Thursday.
The men, Martin Kjskjn and Martin Uricek, are to be charged with illegal possession, collection and transport of 113 angulate tortoises, also known as "rooipens skilpad" on the West Coast.
They were arrested on Wednesday night by a Lamberts Bay policeman who caught them along the roadside allegedly loading the creatures into their vehicle.
"It was then that the police discovered a few suitcases full of tortoises," Cape Nature Conservation spokesperson Natasha Rockman said.
Their bail application at the Clanwilliam Magistrate's Court was postponed to November 21 so an interpreter could be found.
They are being held in the Vanrhynsdorp prison.
The men face a maximum sentence of two years' imprisonment or R10 000 fine per charge, and a penalty of three times the commercial value of the tortoises.
In September two Czechs were fined just under R170 000 for poaching animals and plants, and last week a German orchid dealer was fined R8 000 for the theft of protected plants from the Groot Winterhoek conservation area.

3
Four nabbed for tortoise theft
Cape Town - Four foreign citizens will appear in court on Friday after they were caught allegedly attempting to smuggle 78 tortoises out of the country, police said.
Senior Superintendent Mary Martins-Engelbrecht said on Thursday one Czechoslovakian citizen and three Slovakian men would appear in the Vredendal Regional Court on charges relating to the contravention of the Nature Conservation Ordinance.
The men were arrested on Tuesday after police were told that some men were seen hiding tortoises in the veld in Doringbaai, on the west coast of the Western Cape.
Police and Western Cape Nature Conservation confiscated 78 Angulata tortoises and in a follow-up operation found another 16 tortoises.
Martins-Engelbrecht said the tortoises appeared to be destined for sale abroad on the illegal pet market.
The arrests followed two similar incidents on the West Coast in the last six months.
Three Japanese citizens were arrested for a similar offence in December last year. They were found guilty and each sentenced to a fine of R106 000 or six years in prison.
In March, two Japanese citizens were found guilty of a similar offence. They were each sentenced to a R110 000 fine or four years imprisonment.

[wizzasmum]

It's a pity they don't catch all smugglers and deal with them, I know what I would do with them <g> The British police are useless at catching tortoise smugglers. They were tipped off for years about a well known TV producer, Mike Linley but it took the Australian police to catch him in the end - his excuse - he was trying to save some from being run over !!!!!