Conspiracy, smuggling, money laundering, lying to the US government, violating wildlife laws[1]
Criminal penalty
71 months imprisonment and $60,000 fine Five years imprisonment (reduced to 17-and-a-half months on appeal)
Partner(s)
Cheah Bing Shee
Wong Keng Liang (born 16 June 1958) is a Malaysian animal smuggler, known as the "Lizard King" or the "Pablo Escobar of animal trafficking" from the book The Lizard King by Bryan Christy.[3][4][5] He was arrested after running the biggest global animal smuggling ring to be taken down.[6]
He founded a reptile export company in the early 1980s and by the end of the decade had established a large network of illegal wildlife trafficking operations from his base in Penang, where wildlife protection laws were weak and rarely enforced. He was targeted by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) in Operation Chameleon from 1995, which eventually saw him extradited to the United States from Mexico to be sentenced to 71 months in prison in June 2001. He resumed his smuggling operations upon his release, before being arrested by the Malaysian authorities in 2010. He was released in 2012 after securing a successful appeal against the length of his sentence. Despite having had many of his animals seized during his recent arrest, he is believed to have once again resumed illegally smuggling wildlife since his release.
^ abcAlonso-Zaldivar, R (16 September 1998). "Agents Arrest Reptile Dealer in Trade Sting". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
^Neumann, Jeff (9 March 2010). "Legendary Animal Smuggler Caught with 95 Snakes In Luggage". Gawker. Retrieved 8 May 2020.
^Christy, Bryan (1 August 2008). The Lizard King: The True Crimes and Passions of the World's Greatest Reptile Smugglers. Grand Central Publishing. ISBN 978-0-446-53790-2.
^"Malaysia jails man who smuggled 95 snakes on a plane". BBC News. 6 September 2010. Retrieved 5 December 2013.
^"Return of the Lizard King". Al Jazeera. 21 April 2015. Retrieved 7 May 2020.
^"Panorama – Threat to rare species". BBC News. Retrieved 5 September 2013.
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