Three men held over suitcases stuffed with hermit crabs

bbc ^ | Thomas Mackintosh

[BenLurkin]

Three men have been arrested in Japan for attempting to smuggle hermit crabs out of the country.

The suspects, aged 24, 26 and 27, and widely identified in Japanese media as being Chinese nationals, were detained on Amami, a southerly island where the spiral-shelled crustaceans are a protected species.

Authorities were alerted to the men's live cargo when hotel staff, who had been asked to look after their luggage, noticed the suitcases making a "rustling noise", police told local media.

Officers subsequently discovered "thousands" of hermit crabs, weighing around 95kg. The third man was found to have a further 65kg in another set of three suitcases.

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TOPICS: Travel
KEYWORDS: asia; crabs; hermitcrabs; japan; smuggling; wildlife

[BenLurkin]

Emphasis added

[coloradan]

They don’t call them crab rustlers for nothing.

[higgmeister]

Three men held over suitcases stuffed with hermit crabs

And I was trying to understand why anybody would hang men over suitcases stuffed with hermit crabs?   Some kind of Yakuza statement before putting them to death?   How Bizarre!

[lee martell]

I saw it exactly in that same literal way. Lol!
Modern day Sword of Damocles?

[E. Pluribus Unum]

And I was trying to understand why anybody would hang men over suitcases stuffed with hermit crabs?

Them's good eatin.' 🤡

[gundog]

Probably for the pet trade. Trouble is, as they grow, you need bigger and bigger suitcases.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

I was just making a joke.

[Fai Mao]

The Chinese will eat anything in the sea except a submarine

[GaltAdonis]

When I was a little kid I would beg my parents to buy me a hermit crab every August
when we were down at the seashore on summer vacation.
I don’t remember what my big fascination was with the silly things.
We would take the thing home and would always die within 6 or 8 months or so.
Regardless of what we did to keep it alive, feeding it different things or whatever.
It was all a pointless exercise, really.

[bunkerhill7]

Lobsters walk straight,
Crabs travel in suitcases.

[Governor Dinwiddie]

Chinese are not stewards of God's nature. They are stewards of scams and grift and corruption.

[gundog]

I figured...

[Equine1952]

Chinese are not stewards of God’s nature. They are stewards of scams and grift and corruption

Keep posting like that Jackie Chan gonna kick your arse. 😁

[stanne]

Oh. They were held because of

I thought it was some kind of torture. An alternative to water boarding

[monkeyshine]

It was a long flight on a discount airline that didn’t serve meals ?

[CatHerd]

I used to find them all the time as a child at the beach and loved playing Sith them for a bit, but always let them go after a short spell. They’re cool little critters. I can understand your youthful fascination. I had it, too.

[txeagle]

I don’t understand......we had service members leave Japan with crabs all the time.....

[ProtectOurFreedom]

Why were the men held above the suitcases? Was that some sort of crab torture?

[ProtectOurFreedom]

When I got to China in October 1976 for a fertilizer plant job, I was treated to a fancy banquet. The delicacy was “sea cucumber.” We nicknamed it “Goodyear” because it was tough as tires and they’d put a cross-hatch on the thing that looked like tire tread. As an honored guest, I was expected and obligated to try everything.

[albie]

I read as they were holding the suit cases over their heads