"This is an important goal that can give us practice in terms of species protection crime," says criminal inspector Anna Bergquist at the species protection and cultural heritage group at TT Police.
Now, a man in his 50s is being prosecuted at Borås District Court for two cases of serious species protection crime and one case of smuggling. The charges involve extensive illegal trafficking of rare and protective reptiles.
The man is suspected of having bought and sold up to 1,000 rare and worthy reptiles during the years 2016—2017. The man must have sold, among other things, king python norms, boa worms, various turtles, wares and chameleons.
The house search of the man
The trade was discovered since the police were able to follow the advertising and sales discussions in social media. This led to the police being able to conduct a house search of the man.
- We see that there are both national and international networks that are largely engaged in illegal trafficking of reptiles on the Internet and other social chat platforms, says Anna Bergquist to TT.
Certificates are issued
The accused man claims that he has the certificates required to deal with the animals, but in most cases the scarce documents the man has shown are sentenced by the Swedish Board of Agriculture.
The man admits the course of events for all charges but refuses a crime.
- There are few previous cases of serious species protection violations, and practices in the area are virtually non-existent, which makes every judgment in this type of case important, says Anna Bergquist.