Smuggle an iguana, go to jail? That's a lesson being learned behind bars by Dirk Bender, who attempted to steal four protected Galapagos iguanas. From Fox news Latino:

Ecuadoran authorities arrested a German man on Sunday for allegedly attempting to pilfer four land-dwelling iguanas from the Galapagos Islands, according to the director of park services.

A judge sent Dirk Bender to jail to prevent him from leaving the country while he awaits trial, EFE reports. If convicted of “environmental crime,” Bender could face a prison sentence of up to three years.

Bender was arrested in the airport on the island of Baltra when guards detected something unusual in his luggage after passing it through an X-ray machine. When they opened it, they found two iguanas wrapped in cloth.

Last year, Bender attempted to steal the very protected Fiji Crested iguanas.

In other news, 150 animals originally smuggled from the Philippines have now been returned from Hong Kong after confiscation in June. From 7thspace:

The reptiles were illegally imported to Hong Kong and intercepted at the arrival hall at the Hong Kong International Airport on June 14, 2012. They were found in a passenger's luggage. A 22-year-old man was prosecuted by the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD) and sentenced to imprisonment for six weeks.

All the seized species are listed in Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which protects endangered species from over-exploitation through international trade restrictions.

At present, 175 countries are parties to CITES.

The Philippine pond turtles and the Mindanao water monitor lizards are endemic species that can only be found in the Philippines.

Numerous reptiles were also recently stolen from the Moorten Botanical Garden.

The thieves struck sometime between 6 p.m. Saturday and 7 a.m. Sunday, taking 14 tortoises and one turtle, Moorten Botanical Garden owner Clark Moorten told the Desert Sun.

"I came out and looked at the little water pond and wow, there were no turtles in there," Moorten told the newspaper. "It's sad, maddening and disappointing."

The list of missing reptiles includes four babies and a 10-year-old, 35-pound African sulcata, Moorten said. The oldest tortoise taken is 40 years old; the largest measures about 16 inches in diameter.

Two baby tortoises were likely in burrows when the thieves struck and were overlooked, Moorten said.

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