Customs officials at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport made a startling discovery when they found close to 200 lizards crammed into 22 pairs of socks within a traveler’s suitcase, as reports reveal.
The incident involved a 23-year-old Mexican national who had flown into Tokyo from South Korea on August 8. During luggage inspection, customs officers stumbled upon the concealed reptiles, The Times of India reported.
Inside the suitcase, the lizards were methodically packed into socks. Sadly, one of the creatures did not survive the journey and was found dead when authorities opened the bag, according to the news outlet.
Among the smuggled reptiles were nine Mexican alligator lizards, an endangered species with stringent trade restrictions, as noted by The Times of India.
The man reportedly confessed to officials that he had purchased the lizards in Mexico for prices ranging between $3.50 and $4.70 each.
Some of the reptiles can sell for around $630 each in Japan, according to reports.
Keith Jeffries, vice president of K2 Security Screening Group and former federal security director at Los Angeles International Airport, told Fox News Digital that financial incentives can drive unusual smuggling attempts.
“If there’s a market for it, people will attempt to smuggle it,” said Jeffries, who is based in Orlando.
“We’ve seen this before many times,” he added. “It happens more frequently than any of us would like.”
Airport screening procedures can vary depending on the agency involved and the types of prohibited items officers are tasked with finding, Jeffries said.
In the United States, for example, TSA officers are primarily searching for items that could threaten aviation security, such as weapons and explosives, rather than conducting searches specifically for smuggled wildlife or drugs, he said.
“The TSA security directives do not look for items from just a smuggling standpoint,” Jeffries said. “They look for guns, knives, explosives, incendiary devices — and it’s very specific and narrow to that.”
However, wildlife smuggling attempts are not unheard of, Jeffries added.
During his time with TSA, he recalled cases involving exotic turtles, as well as another incident in which nearly 100 exotic birds were discovered inside checked luggage arriving from overseas.
The discovery of the 200 lizards comes weeks after another suitcase containing wildlife products was intercepted at a U.S. airport.
Fox News Digital previously reported that a U.S. Customs and Border Protection agriculture detector dog helped officers find nearly 100 pounds of prohibited meat, plants and wildlife products in luggage arriving from Thailand.
K-9 Maisy alerted officers to the suitcase, which contained 50 pounds of meat, including raw meat, along with 33 pounds of mangoes, garlic, bamboo, banana plants and approximately 16 pounds of Bengal monitor lizard, according to CBP.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service took custody of the monitor lizard.
CBP agriculture specialists inspect international luggage for prohibited items that could bring pests, animal diseases or invasive species into the United States.