AMERICANALMANAC (Alan Benson) - Two charged with smuggling dozens of exotic reptiles across the border in pillowcases
Federal agents arrested two suspects in a yearslong wildlife trafficking ring after border officers found 69 protected reptiles, including venomous pit vipers and caimans, stuffed into taped pillowcases inside a hidden vehicle compartment at the San Ysidro Port of Entry. Georgina Bribiesca Chavez, 66, of Tijuana, Mexico, pulled up to the busiest land border crossing […] The post Two charged with smuggling dozens of exotic reptiles across the border in pillowcases appeared first on American Almanac .
Federal agents arrested two suspects in a yearslong wildlife trafficking ring after border officers found 69 protected reptiles, including venomous pit vipers and caimans, stuffed into taped pillowcases inside a hidden vehicle compartment at the San Ysidro Port of Entry. Georgina Bribiesca Chavez, 66, of Tijuana, Mexico, pulled up to the busiest land border crossing in the Western Hemisphere on Aug. 10 and told a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer she had nothing to declare. She did not mention the knotted, taped pillowcases crammed behind the rear bench seat of her red Volkswagen, pillowcases that held 60 abronia lizards, four venomous yellow-blotched palm pit vipers, three caimans, a baby crocodile, and an indigo snake. CBP…Open