Hans Kurt Kubus was arrested last month at Christchurch International Airport for trading in exploited species. He had 44 geckos and skinks in pouches sewn into his underwear. Kubus has pled guilty and will be deported to Germany once he’s out of the slammer. From the Associated Press:
Department of Conservation prosecutor Mike Bodie told Christchurch District Court that Kubus could have faced potential maximum penalties of 500,000 dollars and six months in prison.
Bodie told Doherty that the department sought a deterrent sentence for “the most serious case of its kind detected in New Zealand for a decade or more….”
Doherty said Kubus had come to New Zealand and set about poaching the animals in a premeditated way which would have had an impact on particular colonies.
“Man caught at airport with 44 lizards in pants”