Australian police bust native reptile smuggling ring

Photos taken by police showed writhing lizards piled on top of each other in small plastic bins filled with soiled pellets.

Another photo showed a snake curling around a clutch of eggs in a clear plastic tub packed with wood chips.

Each lizard could fetch as much as A$5,000 (US$3,360) on the black market, police said, giving the total seized haul a street value of as much as A$1.2 million.

Police have charged three men allegedly involved in the “criminal syndicate” – aged 59, 54, and 31 – as well as a 41-year-old woman.

Hong Kong is a major global transit point for the illegal trade in live animals, according to the World Wildlife Fund.