RR Phantom
Location : Wasted Space Job/hobbies : Cayman Islands Actuary
| Subject: Innocent, free trading reptile salesman faces 20 years in jail Wed Jul 28, 2010 3:46 am | |
| A reptile salesman has admitted in a Californian court he smuggled 15 live Australian lizards into the US by strapping them to his chest.
Michael Plank, owner of US-based Big Game Reptiles, was stopped by customs agents when he arrived at Los Angeles international airport last November on a United Airlines flight originating in Sydney.
Acting on a tip from a "confidential informant", a pat-down search on Plank found two money belts strapped to his chest containing two geckos, two monitor lizards and 11 skinks worth more than $US8500 ($9400).
Plank, 41, of Lomita, south of Los Angeles, originally entered a not guilty plea to the smuggling charge and last month asked US District Court judge Otis Wright to throw out the evidence derived from the pat-down search.
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