A criminal group planning to smuggle hundreds of native lizards from Australia to Hong Kong has been "caught", officials have confirmed.
These reptiles on the market are worth about 735 million euros, according to data available to the police of New South Wales, the most populous federal state in Australia.
The police in Sydney, the capital of this federal state, arrested three men and a woman.
257 lizards and three snakes were found, it is suspected that they were kept in bad conditions.
They were given help and returned to nature.
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In September, police created a task force to investigate the alleged smugglers, when 59 live lizards were found in nine small containers en route to Hong Kong.
Several raids have been carried out in New South Wales in recent weeks.
In one house in Sydney, they seized 118 lizards, three snakes, eight eggs and 25 dead lizards.
A search of a property in rural Grenfell found four lizards hidden in sacks.
Four suspects, aged between 31 and 59, are charged with exporting domestic reptiles, participating in a criminal group and obtaining money through criminal activities, all of which are considered criminal offences.
If found guilty, they face up to 15 years in prison.
The two men were refused bail after they appeared in court.
In recent decades, Hong Kong has become dominant in the international trade in various exotic animals, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature.
In a study published in 2021, ADM Capital Foundation reveals that over a five-year period, four million live animals from at least 84 countries were imported to this Asian city.
Watch the story of a zoo, a place where captured and injured wild animals find a new home
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