Smuggling queens

Some keepers of exotic pets have other purposes for their animals than enjoyment. They use them to earn money, but not necessarily by breeding and selling them.

Police in Italy found this out when they recently raided the house of a wanted criminal in Bari. Behind a false wall of a basement room that they dismantled emerged anacondas, boa constrictors and a caiman snake, police said on 26 March, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.

Each of the green anacondas measures 5 meters long and weighs 60 kilos, while each of the four Burmese pythons was 3 meters long, according to ST. There was also a dangerous Asian water monitor lizard.

The police believe that the owner, who was not in the house, used the large snakes to scare their victims.

Meanwhile, selling exotic pets remains a lucrative business after a China-bound man and his Kenyan cohort were caught by law enforcers carrying non-tradable animals in their luggage at the Nairobi Airport early this month.

When the arrested Zhang Kequn appeared in a Nairobi court on 17 March to face smuggling charges, he named Charles Mwangi as the person who sold him the 2,000 queen ants at 10,000 Kenyan shillings ($77) for every 100 of them, BBC reported.

The ants were hidden in a small transparent tube stuffed with cotton. Zhang and Mwangi pleaded not guilty to smuggling charges, arguing that trading in queen ants is not illegal.

The case triggered a crackdown on queen ants trading, with police visiting towns where such insects are being harvested.