Pet shop boss tied to rare lizard sale

Written by Writer on Thursday, November 13th, 2008

Pet shop boss tied to rare lizard sale

A pet shop owner accused of keeping a poisonous snake without permission has been rearrested on suspicion of importing and selling three lizards whose trading is prohibited under the Washington Convention, police said Wednesday.

Naoki Bando, 37, is suspected of importing the lizards from Egypt without permission in May and selling them to two customers, according to Tokyo police. He was initially arrested in September.

“I have imported 200 poisonous snakes and other species via the Internet during the past five years, and sold them for ¥4.6 million in total,” Bando was quoted as saying about the snakes.

Of the 200, 91 have already been seized, while Tokyo police will provide information about Bando’s 50 customers to other prefectural police so they can search for the remaining ones.

The Japan Times
Thursday, Nov. 13, 2008