WORLD NEWS: THREE ARRESTED IN JAPAN OVER SUITCASES STUFFED WITH HERMIT CRABS

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According to police on Thursday, three Chinese men were taken into custody in Japan when hotel employees noticed thousands of protected hermit crabs in their rustling luggage.

The suspected crime was reported to environmental officials on Tuesday by a hotel employee in Amami City, which is located on one of the southwestern subtropical islands of the archipelago.

A police spokesman told AFP that the visitors “had asked the hotel to watch their suitcases, and the suitcases made a rustling noise.”

Police requested that two of the three visitors disclose the contents of their bags when they returned to the hotel.

Police discovered about 95 kilogrammes (210 pounds) of spiral-shelled, protected hermit crabs within the three suitcases.

These hermit crabs are from a group of species designated as “national natural monuments” because of their cultural and scientific value.

The third man was found to have 65 kilogrammes of the hermit crabs in another set of three suitcases, police said.

There were “thousands” of hermit crabs in their possession, the police spokesman added. Local media reported each of the hermit crabs can command up to 20,000 yen ($140).

The three men were arrested on Wednesday.

“Our investigation is ongoing to identify whether they had (the hermit crabs) to sell them or to keep them as pets or to eat them,” he said.

“We are reviewing all possibilities.”

AFP