Thousands of hermit crabs seized after being found smuggled in suitcases
Police on a Japanese holiday island have arrested three Chinese nationals after thousands of protected hermit crabs were found stuffed into multiple suitcases.
The three suspects – Liao Zhibin, 24, Song Zhenhao, 26, and Guo Jiawei, 27 – were found to have 160 kilograms (353 pounds) of the live crustaceans in their possession on Wednesday, according to police on the Amami Islands, near Okinawa.
Police said a hotel worker in Amami, a city on the island of Amami Oshima, alerted environmental authorities after spotting something suspicious about the suitcases the three men had asked hotel staff to watch.
'They heard rustling sounds coming from a suitcase that was being held in storage,' a police officer told CNN.
Officers later arrived at the hotel and found the spiral-shelled hermit crabs stuffed into six suitcases, according to police.
When they returned to the hotel on Wednesday, the three men were arrested for possessing the crustaceans without proper authorization, Kyodo News reported.
It's unknown why the three men were transporting the crustaceans.
Police did not provide more detail on the exact species, but told CNN Friday that the hermit crabs seized are classified as 'national natural monuments' in Japan because of their cultural and scientific value, and protected under Japanese law.
The Amami archipelago, off southwestern Kyushu and just north of Okinawa, is a popular tourist destination and known to be home to a diverse array of native plants and animals.
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Experts have highlighted that the data cannot capture full activity, as not all migrants will encounter the authorities and thus won't be reflected in the numbers. In addition, there are 'increased incentives for governments in the region to underplay the arrival figures, as evidence that considerable investments in border security were working'. Migrants, too, have indicated that they'll continue transiting through the Balkans, as they have no option but to escape unstable situations at home of war, persecution and famine. 'Nobody enjoys being in a situation like this,' said Farid, 25, a former police officer, who was forced to flee after the government was ousted when the Taliban returned to power in Afghanistan. His feet were covered in cuts and bruises from weeks of travel, often on foot, all led by a smuggler. 'But I don't have another choice, I have to go.' Additional reporting by Javid Khan Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. 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