14 DAY TRIAL // The land iguanas of Galapagos are under the law's protection as an endangered species, therefore all attempts to smuggle them off the island result in legal charges.
This is precisely what happened to 31-year-old Dirk Bender from Germany, who recently tried to hide four representatives of this species in his luggage and get them through airport security.
Unfortunately for him, the Galapagos police noticed that something was not quite right with the content of his baggage and brought in a dog to sniff it.
Naturally, the dog had no problems in sensing that some of the cotton bags owned by Dirk Bender contained more than your usual traveling items, so the authorities proceeded to a more thorough investigation.
Once the iguanas were found, the German national was arrested and the animals were safely returned to their natural habitats.
Apparently, this is not the first time that Dirk Bender decides to make a few bucks by illegally trading endangered species: just eight months ago, the tried to smuggle a pregnant iguana out of Fiji, but authorities there kept him from doing so.
Given the fact that smuggling wildlife off the Galapagos island is a considered to be a serious offense, the case was presented in front of a judge, who agreed that Dirk Bender is to be preventively imprisoned and made to pay a $15,000 (about €12,200) fine.
The environmental organization known as Sea Shepherd also got involved in this case and asked that it was allowed to make its case in front of the judge.
Thus, representatives of this green group argued that species belonging to the Galapagos wildlife benefit from a legal protective status, and all human actions disregarding this aspect must be severely punished.
For the first time in the history of the Galapagos legal system, the judge actually paid attention to the claims made by Sea Shepherd members, and, as previously mentioned, Dirk Bender was made to pay for his crime.
Overjoyed by how things eventually turned out, Sea Shepherd made this incident public news on their official website.