Turkish customs seize thousands of smuggled insects

Turkish customs seized thousands of insects, worth over 500,000 Turkish lira (more than 300,00 USD) being smuggled from Turkey.

Police arrested 6 Czech suspects in connection with Turkey's biggest-ever insect smuggling attempt.

A total of 6,014 insects of 48 species, mostly stag beetles, ground beetles, ladybugs, flies, crickets and bees, were found boxed hidden in suspects' car.

Suspected smugglers, who are believed to have collected insects from northern Turkey, were caught by the help of a tip-off, officials said.

A biologist from a Turkish university said that insects smuggled from Turkey were mostly sold to natural history museums in Europe.

"There is an insect market for this purpose," Professor Murat Yurtcan said. "These insect species can also be used in gene studies."

Czech suspects told the police that they collected insects in nearly 45 days in Turkey and that they would take insects with them for scientific purposes.


/World Bulletin/