The owner of a 50-centimeter Siamese crocodile found and captured along a stream in Yeoju, Gyeonggi, was caught by police.
According to police on the 27th, the Yeoju Police Station booked a man in his 30s, identified as A, on criminal charges that day for violating the Wildlife Protection and Management Act.
A is suspected of buying a first-class internationally endangered Siamese crocodile for 1.2 million won on an online reptile transaction cafe in 2023 and keeping it.
Internationally endangered species cannot be transacted or owned without a permit. Police determined that A's purchase and keeping of the Siamese crocodile itself was illegal and formally booked A.
Suspicions that A bought and kept the Siamese crocodile surfaced when the crocodile was captured by fire authorities at Soyangcheon in Chang-dong, Yeoju, Gyeonggi, on the 18th.
At the time, a report that "a crocodile is roaming around" was filed to 119, and fire authorities who received the report deployed seven personnel and two pieces of equipment to capture the crocodile. It has since been transferred to the National Institute of Ecology (NIE).
Police then investigated who the owner was based on field inquiries. On the 26th, they arrested A at A's residence near the site where the Siamese crocodile was captured.
A said, "I bought the Siamese crocodile on an online cafe three years ago," but also noted, "It disappeared two weeks ago while I was sunbathing it in the yard," reportedly denying allegations of abandonment.
Police plan to question A in detail about the circumstances while expanding the investigation, including tracking the seller.