Thousands of protected hermit crabs found in suitcases in Japan; 3 Chinese nationals arrested
Police on a Japanese holiday island have arrested three Chinese nationals after thousands of protected hermit crabs were found stuffed into multiple suitcases.
The three suspects 바카라 게임 웹사이트 Liao Zhibin, 24, Song Zhenhao, 26, and Guo Jiawei, 27 바카라 게임 웹사이트 were found to have 353 pounds of the live crustaceans in their possession on Wednesday, according to police on the Amami Islands, near Okinawa.
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Police said a hotel worker in Amami, a city on the island of Amami Oshima, alerted environmental authorities after spotting something suspicious about the suitcases the three men had asked hotel staff to watch.
바카라 게임 웹사이트They heard rustling sounds coming from a suitcase that was being held in storage,바카라 게임 웹사이트 a police officer told CNN.
Officers later arrived at the hotel and found the spiral-shelled hermit crabs stuffed into six suitcases, according to police.
When they returned to the hotel on Wednesday, the three men were arrested for possessing the crustaceans without proper authorization, Kyodo 온라인 바카라 게임 reported.
It바카라 게임 웹사이트s unknown why the three men were transporting the crustaceans.
Police did not provide more detail on the exact species, but told CNN Friday that the hermit crabs seized are classified as 바카라 게임 웹사이트national natural monuments바카라 게임 웹사이트 in Japan because of their cultural and scientific value, and protected under Japanese law.
The Amami archipelago, off southwestern Kyushu and just north of Okinawa, is a popular tourist destination and known to be home to a diverse array of native plants and animals.