Polish customs officials have thwarted an attempt to smuggle 121 Central Asian tortoises into the country.

A Ukrainian man was arrested at the border crossing after a sniffer dog found the reptiles hidden in the converted petrol tank of his car, a spokeswoman said, according to The Associated Press.

The tortoises – an endangered species – were so tightly wrapped in black tape that they could barely squeeze their heads out of their shells. The animals would likely have been sold at markets for around $60 each.

Instead the tortoises will be given to a zoo, while their smuggler could face up to five years in prison.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 3rd, 2009 at 3:49 pm and is filed under Reptiles, Testudines. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.