Smuggler caught after bag holding 95 boa constrictors bursts open at airport.
A man has pleaded guilty after his bag containing snakes broke open on a luggage belt at Kuala Lumpur International airport.
Smuggler caught after bag holding 95 boa constrictors bursts open at airport.
guardian.co.uk 3rd September 2010.
"A man has pleaded guilty after his bag containing snakes broke open on a luggage belt at Kuala Lumpur International airport
Keng Liang "Anson" Wong was charged on Wednesday for exporting the endangered boas without a permit said an official with Malaysia's wildlife department. The offence carries a penalty of up to seven years in prison and a fine.
The smuggling situation is so serious that experts have invented a new term - "empty forest syndrome" - to describe the gaping holes in biodiversity left behind."
Anson Wong has a history of smuggling and has been jailed previously in USA. Read more about his previous history of trading endangered animals in National Geographic, January 2010. " Update: After this article was published, the Malaysian Parliament passed the Wildlife Conservation Act, the first major wildlife law overhaul in the country since 1972.