Strike Force Raptor have charged a man with 169 animal abuse and trafficking offences after dozens of reptiles were seized from a home in Sydney\u2019s west yesterday.
\nIn March 2019, the Criminal Groups Squad\u2019s Strike Force Raptor and the Department of the Environment and Energy\u2019s Office of Compliance commenced an investigation, following reports of the illegal exportation of protected Australian animals for money.
\nFollowing extensive inquiries, investigators, with assistance of officers from the Public Order and Riot Squad and the NSW Office of the Environment and Heritage, executed a search warrant at Marquesa Crescent, Lethbridge Park, yesterday (Thursday 23 May 2019).
\nOfficers located 12 Shingleback lizards, one Stimson\u2019s python, three young Monitors, a South American Mata Mata turtle, and two deceased crocodiles. The reptiles were seized by authorised wildlife handlers.
\nInvestigators also located and seized mobile phones and other electronic devices to undergo forensic examination.
\nA 25-year-old man was arrested at the property and taken to Riverstone Police Station, where he was charged with 165 counts of deal in or attempt to deal in protected animal, two counts of attempted export regulated native specimen without permit or exemption, possess non-native\/regulated specimen, and commit act of cruelty upon an animal.
\nPolice will allege in court that the man, who did not hold a reptile keeper’s licence or exhibitors permit, captured native Australian animals before they were sent overseas for at least $38,000.
\nIt will also be alleged that a further 147 reptiles \u2013 including a Death Adder, 58 Gecko lizards, blue-tongue lizards and 21 bearded dragon lizards \u2013 were seized by the NSW Office of the Environment and Heritage under a Commonwealth warrant carried out by the Department of Environment and Energy in 2017.
\nThe man was granted strict conditional bail and is due to appear at Mt Druitt Local Court on Wednesday 5 June 2019.
\nInvestigations are continuing.
\nStrike Force Raptor was established in 2009 and conducts proactive investigations and intelligence-based, high-impact policing operations to prevent and disrupt conflicts, and dismantle any network engaged in serious organised criminal activity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Strike Force Raptor have charged a man with 169 animal abuse and trafficking offences after dozens of reptiles were seized from a home in Sydney\u2019s west yesterday. In March 2019, the Criminal Groups Squad\u2019s Strike Force Raptor and the Department of the Environment and Energy\u2019s Office of Compliance commenced an investigation, following reports of the … Continue reading “Man charged with 169 animal abuse and trafficking offences – Strike Force Raptor”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nswnews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2881","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2881"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2881\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}