A GERMAN national who was fined $15,000 for attempting to smuggle a pregnant Fiji crested iguana in a knapsack out of Nadi International Airport last year has been caught again for the same incident, this time in Baltra in the Galapagos Islands.
According to the Galapagos National Park website, park rangers detected a suspicious package while inspecting cargo and baggage with an X-ray machine at Baltra Airport and found that Dirk Bender's luggage contained two iguanas last Sunday.
The website said that after determining the reptile species Conoluphus subcristatus, the rangers sought the help of the Environmental Police to stop Mr Bender.
The police also detected two more iguanas, which, like the first, were hidden in cloth bags.
It said Mr Bender was being held at the Environmental Police Unit and the iguanas were moved to the Galapagos National Park Service for review by a veterinarian.
The website said the species which Mr Bender tried to smuggle belonged to the vulnerable category of the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources.