Photos confirmed lizards piled on prime of each other in small plastic bins and snakes in a transparent plastic tub.
Detectives first started investigating the Australia-based crime syndicate final yr after intercepting 9 packages containing 59 lizards sure for Hong Kong.
Police have charged three males – aged 59, 54, and 31 – in addition to a 41-year-old lady with offences together with exporting native reptiles, coping with the proceeds of crime and collaborating in a prison group.
Two of the boys had been refused bail after showing in courtroom over the weekend.
Det Supt Koutsoufis added: “There are people willing to pay big dollars for the animals.
“Whether they’re collectors, whether they’re used as pets, whether they are used for medicinal purposes.”
Hong Kong is a serious international transit level for the unlawful commerce in reside animals, in response to the World Wildlife Fund.
A examine printed by ADM Capital Foundation in 2022 discovered that 4 million reside animals from no less than 84 nations had been imported into the town over a five-year interval.
The creatures belonged to greater than 700 species, a lot of that are dealing with menace of extinction within the wild.