TAIYUAN, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) -- Customs in north China's Shanxi Province have arrested two suspects for smuggling over 173 rare lizards, local authorities said Wednesday.
The customs in Taiyuan, capital of Shanxi Province, received a tip-off in September that a seller in Taiwan surnamed Ni mailed two packages to the province, which contained rare animals that are under national protection.
The customs inspected the packages at the local airport and found 58 dead Varanus exanthematicus and green iguanas, two rare lizard species under first-class and second-class national protection, respectively.
The customs later found that Ni had sent 173 such rare lizards to buyers in multiple provinces on the Chinese mainland.
Smuggling rare animals constitutes a criminal offense. Many suspects in these cases are young people who buy the animals online to keep as pets, according to the local customs.
