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Smugglers! Keep your hands off Turkie
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20 Jun 2011 Mon 08:35 am |
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The event was the largest alleged attempt to ever smuggle plants out of Turkey in the country’s history.
Two Dutch citizens have been apprehended at the Kapıkule border crossing with Bulgaria while allegedly attempting to smuggle out 57 rare tulip bulbs that are endemic to Erzurum’s Karayazı district.
Police detained 60-year-old Franciscus Johannes Linschoten and 29-year-old Michael Hubertus Klok as they attempted to drive into Bulgaria. Officials also seized a total of 160 different endemic species of 5,236 plant seeds from the vehicle.
Source: here
Oh man, I´m speechless!
Edited (7/14/2011) by si++
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14 Jul 2011 Thu 12:51 pm |
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Bug smugglers trying to cross through the Kapıkule Customs Area, with a full cargo of insects, have been apprehended.
Experts stated that the insects, gathered from the northern part of the Central Anatolian region and the Black Sea region, had been killed in storage boxes and that the value of the insects totaled 500,000 Turkish Liras
Some 48 different species, including ladybugs, cockroaches, and various types of stag beetles, grasshoppers, flies and bees were found in boxes during the operation. AA photo
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Customs officials that recently prevented the illegal transport of 5,000 plant seeds abroad have now uncovered a major insect-smuggling operation.
Individuals have been allegedly collecting samples of different plants around the Black Sea province of Rize in an attempt to take them abroad, according to information obtained by the Anatolia news agency. Customs officials, who had been warned about the possibility of encountering plant smugglers, took precautions at entry points. Soon after, they apprehended a Czech citizen trying to cross through the Kapıkule Customs Area, allegedly with a full cargo of insects, Anatolia news agency reported Tuesday.
Conducting a search of the car, authorities discovered a number of insects hidden in boxes and tubes. Professors Zühal Okyar, Murat Yurtcan and Volkan Aksoy of Trakya University’s Biology Department identified 6,014 bugs from 48 different species, including ladybugs, cockroaches, and various types of stag beetles, grasshoppers, flies and bees.
The report drafted by the team of experts stated that the insects, gathered from the northern part of the Central Anatolian region and the Black Sea region, had been “killed in storage boxes which had been imbued with ethyl acetate” and that the total value of the insects totaled 500,000 Turkish Liras.
The six people in the car were reportedly collecting the insects for one and a half months and were aiming to take them abroad for scientific research. The discovered bugs have now been taken to the Entomology Museum of the university’s biology department.
Yurtcan said the culprits caught the bugs with numerous different techniques, including light traps, little nets and sifting soil. “Among the bugs are those that are as small as a pin needle. They must have sifted six or seven kilograms of earth with a special sieve to be able to get to those.”
A wide market existed for bugs and butterflies, the professor said. “In many developed countries there are museums of natural history, to which these bugs are sold for a substantial amount of money. They are also used in genetics research. In Turkey, we have many species from Europe, Asia and Africa, which makes them perfect for genetics research. However, these bugs are also part of our country’s natural diversity and we must put a stop to their being smuggled.”
Smuggling of flora and fauna in Turkey
Last month, two Dutch people attempting to smuggle the 57 remaining bulbs of an endemic tulip, which grows only in Karayazı in Erzurum, were captured at the Kapıkule border crossing. Some 5,236 flower seeds and roots belonging to 160 endemic types of flowers were discovered in the car, representing the largest smuggling attempt of its type in Turkish history, according to customs officials.
Source: here
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14 Jul 2011 Thu 01:04 pm |
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Customs agents catch six Czech men smuggling insects in Edirne
13 July 2011, Wednesday / TODAY´S ZAMAN, İSTANBUL
No less than 48 different species of insect were found when 6 Czech nationals were apprehended at the Edirne Kapıkule border gate while trying to smuggle insects they had collected in Turkey. (Click on the picture to see more pictures)
| Six Czech nationals were apprehended at the Edirne Kapıkule border gate with Bulgaria on Tuesday while trying to smuggle insects they had collected from various parts of Turkey. |
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Security officers found a total of 6,014 insects, including ladybirds, bees, blowflies and cicadas. No less than 48 different species of insect were found. Customs security said this was the biggest smuggling attempt of this kind in Turkish history, the Anatolia news agency reported.
In June Turkish police detained two Dutch citizens on charges of trying to smuggle out of the country 57 rare inverted tulip bulbs as well as 5,236 plant seeds, seedlings and plant roots endemic to Turkey through the Edirne Kapıkule border gate.
According to Anatolia, the customs enforcement unit was notified by locals from Rize province, stating that some foreigners were collecting what the locals thought to be plant samples in the area, suspecting these may be smuggled out of the country. Subsequently, all customs enforcement units across Turkey took measures by using the Land Border Gates Vehicle Tracking Program. After an alert was issued and measures taken, a vehicle carrying six Czech nationals was stopped when tying to pass through the Edirne Kapıkule border gate.
When security agents conducted a search of the vehicle, they found hundreds of insects in tubes and little boxes. Thereupon the officials enlisted the help of experts from Trakya University’s department of biology to identify the various species. In the end, Dr. Zühal Okyar, Dr. Murat Yurtcan and Dr. Volkan Aksoy identified 6,014 insects belonging to 48 different species.
The experts stated most of the insects were from the Coleoptera family, such as ladybirds, cockroaches and stag beetles; the Heteroptera family, of which the aelia and cicada are a part of; flies from the Diptera family; and bees, which belongs to the Hymenoptera family. According to the experts’ report, the bugs were killed and kept in containers with ethyl acetated wood shavings. The report also stated that the insects were valued at TL 500,000.
Criminal charges were brought against the six Czech citizens, who confessed to having collected the insects over a period of one-and-a-half months and that they were going to take them from the country for scientific purposes. The seized insects have been taken to Trakya University’s Entomology Museum.
Trakya University faculty member Dr. Yurtcan told the Anatolia reporter that it is illegal to take biological assets from a country, even if it is for scientific purposes, without having been granted permission from the authorities or signing a protocol with a scientific research institution.
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| 4. |
14 Jul 2011 Thu 02:12 pm |
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I always have this fear of bringing a bug in my suitcase from Turkey... You open your bags at home, and from under your T-shirt a big beatle comes crawling out...yugh! But I guess all this time I should have hoped for that, instead of fearing it. There´s money to be made!
Edited (7/14/2011) by barba_mama
[type-o]
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