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Southern LedgerPolish customs at the Ukrainian border Tuesday found 121 Central Asian tortoises, a threatened species, bound so tightly in black tape that their heads could barely squeeze out from their shells.
Customs spokeswoman Malgorzata Eisenberger said officers arrested a 34-year-old Ukrainian man allegedly attempting to cross the border with the animals.
The 121 tortoises were destined for markets in Poland where they sell for 200 Polish zlotys ($62) to people who generally want them as pets _ a much higher price that they would get in impoverished Ukraine, she said.
Polish customs officer provides this photo showing some 120 Central Asian tortoises bound with black tape and stacked in a converted gasoline tank that a Ukrainain man was trying to smuggle into Poland at the crossing of Medyka on Tuesday, June 2, 2009. ( AP Photo/ Customs Office/HO )
Eisenberger said a customs sniffer dog discovered the tortoises bound with black tape and stacked in a converted gasoline tank of the suspect's car.
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