Woman carrying 130 poisonous frogs in her luggage charged with wildlife trafficking

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A Brazilian lady travelling to Sao Paulo by way of Panama has been charged with wildlife trafficking after 130 Harlequin frogs had been seized from her luggage.

The alleged smuggler was arrested at Bogota’s El Dorado International Airport by authorities on Monday (29 January) after the poisonous animals had been found packaged inside small movie canisters.

Officials described the amphibians, often known as poison-dart frogs, to be in a “dehydrated” and “stressed” situation.

The extremely poisonous Harlequin frogs discovered in Central and South America are thought of a critically endangered species. Small animals and predators together with birds, could be killed by their poisonous pores and skin glands.

According to Bogotá police commander Juan Carlos Arevalo, the amphibians are price as much as $1,000 (£780) every and are extremely wanted by worldwide non-public collectors.

In whole, officers estimate the lady was carrying round $130,000 (£102,707) price of the contraband frogs on her journey to Brazil.

Adriana Soto, the Bogotá surroundings secretary, stated the lady claimed the tiny Harlequin frogs, simply shy of 5cm lengthy, had been a “gift” from a area people in southern Colombia.

The possession of the colourful animals might see the unidentified lady charged as much as 56 million pesos (£11,300).

It’s not the primary time that 1000’s of {dollars} price of uncommon wildlife has been smuggled throughout borders.

In 2022 a person pleaded responsible to 2 counts of smuggling and one rely of wildlife trafficking after bringing 1,700 animals into the US.

The reptiles introduced by Jose Manuel Perez from Mexico to the US included turtles, lizards and crocodiles price at the very least $730,000.

A Russian vacationer arrested in Bali additionally claimed {that a} protected primate was gifted to him as a pet after being arrested for making an attempt to smuggle a drugged orangutan house in his luggage in 2019.

Andrei Zhestkov was detained at Ngurah Rai International Airport with the two-year-old monkey sleeping in a rattan basket.