New York man pleads guilty to smuggling nearly 40,000 piranhas into the U.S.

[webfact]

New York man pleads guilty to smuggling nearly 40,000 piranhas into the U.S.
By Rande Iaboni, CNN

(CNN) -- New York City resident Joel Rakower bit off more than he could chew when he smuggled nearly 40,000 piranhas into the United States.

Rakower pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court in Brooklyn to smuggling the deadly piranhas from 2011 to 2012, according to a U.S. Department of Justice statement. The federal Lacey Act combats trafficking in "illegal" wildlife, fish and plants.

In a plea agreement, Rakower admitted that his company purchased piranhas from a Hong Kong tropical fish supplier and imported them to the city, according to the statement.

Full story: http://edition.cnn.com/2014/01/29/justice/new-york-piranha-guilty-plea/index.html

-- CNN 2014-01-31

[chooka]

why would you want 40k

[Theequation]

Maybe he fancies himself a James Bond villain...

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[spirit47]

And I thought, they have enough Piranhas there...

[rotary]

That really bites my As*

[flynn]

why would you want 40k

to sell

[LeeThayer]

Maybe he fancies himself a James Bond villain...

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Couple of sharks with fricken lasers would have been cheaper

[Scott]

Off-topic posts deleted.

[Steely Dan]

why would you want 40k

to sell

Do sanctions on exports to North Korea include Piranhas?

[boomerangutang]

I got a bathtub full of piranhas, and all I got was this bloody T-shirt.

[IsaanUSA]

I guess he's never heard of breeding. 40k! Jeez!

[Lokie]

Sounds fishy to me!

[robinc]

This is not humorous a little bit. If any of the piranha had of gotten out they could very well devastated the ecosystem. The man has no regard for life.

[sirineou]

What is worst is the method he used to smuggle them in to the country, Authorities got suspicious, when they noticed his large Vaseline purchase bill at the local drug store.