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German tourist caught smuggling lizards in his underwear

A German tourist has been caught trying to leave New Zealand with 23 geckos and 20 skinks hidden in his underwear, a court heard on Monday.

Published: 8 December 2009 08:02 CET

German tourist caught smuggling lizards in his underwear

Please sir, don't put me in your underpants! Photo: DPA

Hans Kubus, 58, was stopped at Christchurch Airport on Sunday after checking in, and was searched by customs staff.

A small package containing the reptiles was found in his underwear, prosecutor Mike Bodie told the Christchurch District Court on Monday.

“The package contained eight separate compartments separating various gecko and skink species,” he said.

Kubus’ luggage also contained a single gecko in a rolled up sock.

A total of 24 geckos were found from five different species, as well as 20 skinks from two species.

The German admitted trading geckos and taking geckos and skinks from the wild without a permit.

A black market trade in geckos exists in Europe and those taken by Kubus would have had a street value of around $35,850 US, Bodie said.

The value of the skinks was unknown because trading in that species had not previously been identified.

Kubus was due to be sentenced on January 25.

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Germany raids properties in bribery probe aimed at AfD politician

The investigation targets Petr Bystron, the number-two candidate for the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party in next month’s European Parliament elections, Der Spiegel news outlet reported.

Police, and prosecutors in Munich, confirmed on Thursday they were conducting “a preliminary investigation against a member of the German Bundestag on the initial suspicion of bribery of elected officials and money laundering”, without giving a name.

Properties in Berlin, the southern state of Bavaria and the Spanish island of Mallorca were searched and evidence seized, they said in a statement.

About 70 police officers and 11 prosecutors were involved in the searches.

Last month, Bystron denied media reports that he was paid to spread pro-Russian views on a Moscow-financed news website, just one of several scandals that the extreme-right anti-immigration AfD is battling.

READ ALSO: How spying scandal has rocked troubled German far-right party

Bystron’s offices in the German parliament, the Bundestag, were searched after lawmakers voted to waive the immunity usually granted to MPs, his party said.

The allegations against Bystron surfaced in March when the Czech government revealed it had bust a Moscow-financed network that was using the Prague-based Voice of Europe news site to spread Russian propaganda across Europe.

Did AfD politicians receive Russian money?

Czech daily Denik N said some European politicians cooperating with the news site were paid from Russian funds, in some cases to fund their European Parliament election campaigns.

It singled out the AfD as being involved.

Denik N and Der Spiegel named Bystron and Maximilian Krah, the AfD’s top candidate for the European elections, as suspects in the case.

After the allegations emerged, Bystron said that he had “not accepted any money to advocate pro-Russian positions”.

Krah has denied receiving money for being interviewed by the site.

On Wednesday, the European Union agreed to impose a broadcast ban on the Voice of Europe, diplomats said.

The AfD’s popularity surged last year, when it capitalised on discontent in Germany at rising immigration and a weak economy, but it has dropped back in the face of recent scandals.

As well as the Russian propaganda allegations, the party has faced a Chinese spying controversy and accusations that it discussed the idea of mass deportations with extremists, prompting a wave of protests across Germany.

READ ALSO: Germany, Czech Republic accuse Russia of cyberattacks

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