Syndicates target vulnerable students

Criminal networks are recruiting international students on social media to smuggle native Australian reptiles, often without telling them the full extent of the operation.

“Sometimes they might know what's in the package, sometimes they don't; it might just be transporting from one state to another to get to an exit point.”

Record seizures in 2025

Authorities intercepted one thousand forty-eight wildlife specimens in two thousand twenty-five, including three hundred forty-three reptiles, the second-highest number seized in six years.

Young people charged recently

In September, a twenty-one-year-old man was charged with attempting to smuggle one hundred sixty-three native reptiles from Sydney to Hong Kong as air cargo.

Prison sentences for smugglers

An international student was sentenced to eighteen months in prison for attempting to send fifteen lizards to China, valued at seventy-four thousand two hundred seven dollars.

Reptiles fetch thousands on black market

Individual Australian reptiles can fetch anywhere from a few hundred dollars to over ten thousand dollars, according to Sebastian Chekunov from Adelaide University's Wildlife Crime Research Hub.

“anywhere from a few hundred [dollars] to over $10,000”

Hong Kong is first smuggling destination

Smuggled reptiles mostly go to Hong Kong first, then reach exotic pet markets in China, Europe, the United States and Canada, where consumers often do not know they were smuggled.

Transport harms animal welfare

Reptiles are wrapped tightly in packages without food or water for extended periods during smuggling, causing harm to their wellbeing, Dr Chekunov said.

“They're often wrapped up tightly inside packages, not able to move, not given food and water for however long they're wrapped up.”

Legitimate breeders oppose smuggling

Australia's legal reptile hobbyists say the illegal trade damages their industry's reputation and warn that smugglers operate in secretive networks difficult for the wider community to identify.

“Those small circles of smugglers and such, they really keep to themselves and they essentially operate in the shadows.”

Authorities seek community help

Licensed reptile breeders and hobbyists can help identify suspicious activity and disrupt the illegal trade, authorities say, as the National EPA works to enforce export laws.