Docklands lizard smuggler sentenced to minimum 12 months in jail

A man who posted seven live lizards from the Docklands post office as part of a sophisticated reptile smuggling operation has been sentenced to a minimum 12 months’ jail after pleading guilty in the County Court to attempting to illegally export multiple “specimens”.

Chinese national Zipeng Huang, 27, also posted “consignments” of reptiles, packaged in Pringle containers or work boots, from post offices in Burwood East, Mount Waverley, Syndal and Brisbane.

In total 27 lizards in nine lots were seized by officers from the federal environment department after they were alerted to the packages by border force officials.

The lizards were nine common blue-tongues, six western blue-tongues, three blotched blue-tongues, two lace monitors and the seven shinglebacks posted at Docklands.

All the animals had restricted access to oxygen, and none had access to food, water or light.

Three were dead when unpackaged.

The court heard Huang, who first came to Australia as a student, and is here on a bridging visa, had a Victorian wildlife permit that enabled him to buy, sell, keep and breed certain animals for non-commercial purposes.

However, from April 2023 until August 1, 2024, when he was arrested, he had been receiving money and instructions via WeChat from Hong Kong about the type of reptiles he should buy and the addresses to mail them to.

Authorities apparently first became aware of Huang’s illegal activities after his May 19, 2022, visit to the Docklands post office, when he lodged three parcels addressed to a recipient in Hong Kong, which were registered in a false name and each declared to contain music box toys with a value of $90.

In fact, the seven illegally exported shinglebacks, which had been put into socks secured with cable ties and packed in empty cylindrical Pringle containers, were together estimated to be worth around $60,500 on the international market.

The international value of all 27 smuggled lizards – most of them listed in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora – was estimated at $137,000, the court heard.

Sentencing Huang, who appeared with a Cantonese interpreter, Judge Anne Hassan noted he had good character references, was genuinely contrite, had been experiencing financial pressure in the leadup to his offending and was now suffering an episode of depression as a result of his situation.

However, the 27-year-old, whose parents had supported him in the past, had essentially acted out of greed and a desire for easy money, Judge Hassan said, and had treated the animals cruelly.

Further, his offending appeared to have been escalating and to have only stopped when he was caught.

Acknowledging that a jail term would jeopardise his future in Australia, which included plans to marry his Australian-born partner, the judge sentenced him to two years and 10 months’ with a non-parole period of a year.

Her sentence was required to send a message of deterrence, the judge said.

Huang, who had previously been on bail, was taken from court into custody. •