A 61-year-old man has been arrested after he arrived at Narita airport, east of Tokyo, last year with rare animals in his baggage, police and Tokyo Customs said.
Kazuo Murakami from Chiba Prefecture was arrested Thursday on suspicion of trying to smuggle rare animals and birds including 12 spotted owlets and six woodland dormice when he arrived from Thailand on April 7, 2017, they said.
(Photo supplied by Tokyo Customs)
According to Tokyo Customs, the animals were in eight cages in Murakami's checked-in baggage. The customs quoted Murakami as saying, "I bought them as they were cute."
Trading in spotted owlets is restricted under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, also known as the Washington Convention.
