# Criminal syndicates target students to smuggle Australian reptiles

> International students are being recruited by organised crime networks to smuggle native Australian reptiles overseas, authorities warn.
- Title: Criminal syndicates target students to smuggle Australian…
- Summary: International students are being recruited by organised crime networks to smuggle native Australian reptiles overseas, authorities warn. Criminal syndicates…
- Keywords: wildlife smuggling, international students, criminal syndicates, australian reptiles, national epa, exotic pet trade, hong kong, wildlife crime, news, politics, Criminal, syndicates
- Source: Abc — https://abc.net.au/news/2026-10-04/reptiles-smuggled-out-syndicates-target-international-students/107211754
- Read time: 2 min
- Topics: wildlife smuggling, international students, criminal syndicates, australian reptiles, national epa, exotic pet trade, hong kong, wildlife crime, news, politics
## 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.
## Key takeaway

Criminal syndicates are targeting international students to smuggle Australian reptiles overseas, with authorities intercepting record numbers and warning of increasing recruitment on social media.