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.
