Costa Blanca
16 live lizards found in the luggage of a Dutch passenger at Alicante airport
By h.b.
Apr 9, 2008 - 7:51 PM

16 live lizards have been found in the luggage of a passenger at the El Altet airport in Alicante. The reptiles were hidden inside nine cardboard tubes which the Dutch passenger was trying to take with him on a flight to Niederrhein in Holland.

The news of the find, made on April 4 during a routine check at the airport, has been given today by the Guardia Civil. They say the lizards were all of the Pogona Vitticeps or Bearded Dragon species which are only found normally in Australia. If they had not been discovered, they would have been placed in the hold of the aircraft and subjected to very low temperatures.

Agents from the Civil Guard environment department SEPRONA were called and they are now being cared for at the species recovery centre at Santa Faz. The owner has been charged with not declaring that he was carrying live animals in his luggage and is likely to be fined.