Germany Holds Suspects In International Reptile Smuggling Ring

With leads obtained from an undercover U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service investigation, German authorities have arrested two men for their roles in an international reptile-smuggling ring, the Justice Department announced Thursday.

Frank H. Lehmeyer, 34, of Speyer, Germany, charged in a U.S. indictment as the smuggling ringleader, and a second German citizen were arrested Wednesday by German law enforcement agents, the department said.

Justice spokesman Bill Brooks said the second man was arrested on German charges and, under German law, his identity was not released. He has not been charged in the United States.

The Fish and Wildlife investigation revealed that the ring has smuggled hundreds of rare and endangered tortoises and snakes out of Madagascar, an island nation in the Indian Ocean off Africa, to Germany and then to the United States and Canada, the Justice Department said.

The animals, with a commercial value of more than $250,000, were sold to wildlife dealers and private collectors.

The animals smuggled during the multiyear conspiracy included more than 120 Madagascan tree boas, 25 spider tortoises, 50 radiated tortoises and six Madagascan ground boas. The radiated tortoise is listed as endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. All the species are protected by an international treaty, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna.