【こぼれ話】ズボンにヘビ隠した男、密輸などの罪認める　米

【ロサンゼルスＡＦＰ＝時事】米当局は２４日、ヘビやトカゲをズボンの中に隠すなどして総額７３万９０００ドル（約１億１００万円）超相当の動物を密輸入した男が司法取引で罪を認め、１２月１日に数十年の禁錮刑が科される見通しだと明らかにした。（写真は米カリフォルニア州サンイシドロの国境検問所で押収されたヘビとトカゲ。税関・国境警備局（ＣＢＰ）提供）
　ホセ・マヌエル・ペレス被告は米カリフォルニア州南部の自宅で６年にわたり、メキシコと香港から１７００匹の動物を密輸入する計画を首謀していた。
　被告は司法取引で、自ら国境を越えたり、運び屋を雇ったりして動物を密輸入していたとして、密輸の罪２件と野生動物密売の罪１件を認めた。密輸は１件につき２０年以下の禁錮刑、野生動物密売は５年以下の禁錮刑を科される。
　司法省によると、密輸入されたのはユカタンハコガメやメキシコハコガメ、クロコダイルの赤ちゃん、メキシコドクトカゲなど。
　被告は３月、メキシコから車で入国する際、６０匹の動物を衣服の中に隠して密輸入しようとしたところを逮捕された。
　当初は税関職員に対し、ペットのトカゲをポケットに入れて運んでいると説明していたが、後に衣服の中に６０匹を隠していたことが判明した。うち３匹は死んでいた。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2022/08/26-11:56）

A man who hid snakes and lizards in his trousers as he tried to sneak them into the United States as part of a $750,000 reptile smuggling enterprise faces decades in prison, officials said Wednesday.
Jose Manuel Perez masterminded the six-year scheme from his home in southern California, which involved bringing 1,700 animals into the United States from Mexico and Hong Kong.
In a plea deal with the Department of Justice, Perez acknowledged that he had paid mules to transport some of his illicit cargo, and at other times had made border crossings himself.
The animals that he netted, which included Yucatan box turtles, Mexican box turtles, baby crocodiles and Mexican beaded lizards, were sold to clients across the country for upwards of $739,000, documents show.
His downfall came in March when he tried to drive from Mexico with 60 creatures secreted around his groin and in other parts of his clothing.
After initially telling customs officers he was transporting his pet lizards in his pockets, he was found to have 60 reptiles on him.
They included arboreal alligator lizards and Isthmian dwarf boas, a kind of snake that changes color and whose defense mechanisms include bleeding from its eyes.
Three of the reptiles were dead.
Perez, who admitted two counts of smuggling, each of which carries up to 20 years in prison, and one of wildlife trafficking, which carries a maximum five-year jail term, will be sentenced on December 1.