How to smuggle pirahas and retain all your fingers

You'd think smuggling piranhas into the country would be difficult. I picture delicately carrying a stainless steel water bottle through airport screening, trying to be nonchalant and taking fake sips while keeping your lips far enough back so the fish don't bite. Or maybe loading the fish into hollowed-out acrylic platform shoes.

At any rate, the task would seem to risk losing hands or at least fingers.

But no. Apparently it's easier than that.

A New York business allegedly smuggled 39,548 piranhas into Queens. All it had to do was put them into shipping containers mislabel "silver tetras" (note to potential importers: Don't put piranhas into shipping containers mislabel "silver tetras" as it could result in an unbalanced ecosystem, probation and fines).

Here's the Department of Justice release about the fishy operation:

Tropical Fish Importer Pleads Guilty to Piranha Import Violations

Joel Rakower, along with his solely-owned corporation, Transship Discounts Ltd., pleaded guilty today in federal court in Brooklyn, N.Y., to violating the Lacey Act by mislabeling imported piranhas.

In the plea agreement, Rakower admitted that his company purchased piranhas from a Hong Kong tropical fish supplier and imported them to Queens, N.Y. Each such import must be accompanied by a packing list describing what wildlife is contained in the package being imported, and the importer must provide this packing list to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service upon import for inspection. In March of 2011, shortly after New York City prohibited possession of piranhas, Rakower instructed the foreign supplier to falsely label the piranhas on packing lists as silver tetras, a common and unaggressive aquarium fish. Over the course of 2011 and 2012, Transship submitted packing lists to the Fish and Wildlife Service containing false identifications of 39,548 piranhas, worth approximately $37,376, which Transship then sold to fish retailers in several states.

Under the plea agreements, Rakower agreed to pay a $3,000 fine. Transship agreed to serve a two-year period of probation, pay a $35,000 fine and pay $35,000 in restitution to the State of New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation Division of Law Enforcement.

Piranhas are freshwater fish originating from South American rivers such as the Amazon, Orinoco, Guyana and the Sao Francisco river systems. They are extremely aggressive and territorial, feeding on insects, fish, and larger prey such as amphibians, reptiles and mammals. As a result of piranhas’ aggressiveness, 25 states have either banned or regulated piranhas, making them illegal to own or sell.

Piranhas, an injurious species, could pose a serious risk if they escaped into native water systems, potentially damaging ecosystems through aggressive predation or injuring people or pets. Tropical fish enthusiasts can contribute to this possibility by releasing piranhas into the wild when they grow too large for a tank. Although piranhas originate from tropical waters, they are able to withstand much cooler water temperatures, creating fear that they may even become established in more northern US waters.

Effective regulation of piranha possession and sales within the United States depends on accurate reporting of piranha imports; concealing the fish upon import facilitates their entry into the black market in states that have banned or strictly regulated piranhas to protect state waters and ecosystems.

Missing missal recovered

A customs investigation has turned up a missing manuscript page that tells the story of San Lorenzo, a 3rd Century martyr. But the Holy Grail remains missing.

San Lorenzo (Latin: Laurentius. English: St. Lawrence of Rome. American: Larry) was born in Spain around 225 and made his way to Rome.

He was appointed archdeacon of Rome by his buddy, Sixtus II, who was named pope in 257. Back then, the title of pope didn't carry as much clout as it does today, as shown by the fact that Sixtus was executed by Roman authorities a year later.

That put Lorenzo in a perdicament because the Romans demanded he hand over the Church's riches. According to the story, he instead gave the treasure to the poor and entrusted the Holy Grail to friend who smuggled it off to Spain. Lorenzo then showed up at the Roman prefect's office with the empoverished and disabled declaring them to be the church's true treasures.

And the Romans roasted him alive.

Meanwhile, the Grail made its way to the British Isles, where it was hunted by King Arthur before landing in Petra, Jordan, where it was discovered by Indiana Jones, who used it to save Sir Sean Connery, if I'm reading my history right.

In the 1400s, a Lombardian monk wrote about Larry and drew a picture of him on page 212 of the handwritten Missal of Ludovico da Romagnano, which was later filed in the Turin archives next to some old shroud. A husband and wife team hired to inventory the archives in the 1990s allegedly swiped Lorenzo's entry and 262 other pages from the missal and sold them to a bookseller.

Skip ahead to 2011 when an officer on Italy's cultural property team stumbled on a internet newspaper article about a Florida museum exhibit titled "Blood and Ink" (I'm thinking tattoo exhibit) that featured page 212. American customs got involved, and now Larry's entry is headed back to Italy.

Read more about it here.

St. Lawrence on Wikipedia.

Incense burner returned to Harvard

The government has repatriated an 18th Century Chinese incense burner to Harvard University after it was swiped more than three decades ago and then turned up at a Hong Kong auction house.

Here are the details:

HSI returns $1.5 million work of art to Harvard nearly 35 years after theft

BOSTON — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's Homeland Security Investigations returned Tuesday an 18th century Qing Dynasty Jade Censer to the Harvard Art Museums, Harvard University more than 30 years after the artifact was stolen.

Returned was a Qing dynasty jadeite incense container, also called a censer. The censer stands approximately six inches high and seven inches wide. The censer dates back to the last imperial dynasty that ruled China.

The widow of Ernest B. Dane, a businessman who graduated from Harvard College in 1892, originally gifted the censer to the Fogg Museum, one of three museums that now constitute the Harvard Art Museums in Cambridge. In 1979, the Fogg Museum opened a small exhibition featuring a selection of jades that the Danes donated, including the censer.

On Nov. 26, 1979, Harvard discovered the censer missing from its display. The museum contacted law enforcement authorities and notices regarding the theft of the censer were posted in the Art Theft Archive's newsletter, the Art Dealers Association of America, Inc. newsletter, Interpol's database and the International Foundation for Art Research's stolen item database. Despite these efforts, the censer remained missing for nearly 35 years.

In 2009, Sotheby's auction house in Hong Kong prepared to offer a jade censer for sale in its fall Fine Chinese Ceramics & Works of Art auction. The censer had been hand-delivered to Sotheby's Hong Kong offices by a private seller. Prior to the auction, Sotheby's ran a search in the Art Loss Register, which matched the jade censer being offered for auction with the censer stolen from Harvard. The Art Loss Register then notified HSI of Sotheby's query regarding the censer.

HSI special agents notified Sotheby's concerning the origins of the censer and that the censer was listed as stolen in Interpol's Stolen Art Works Database. HSI special agents requested that the auction house withdraw the censer from its auction and Sotheby's complied. The individual who delivered the censer to Sotheby's never provided any documentation regarding the work of art's provenance or ownership.

On July 10, 2012, the United States filed a civil forfeiture complaint against the censer, alleging that the censer constitutes or is derived from proceeds traceable to a stolen good. On Aug. 7, 2013, the court entered a final judgment, finding that the censer is property of the United States. Subsequently, Sept. 25, 2013, the U.S. Department of Justice granted Harvard University's request for return of the censer based on recommendations by HSI and the U.S. Attorney's Office.

The HSI investigation is still ongoing.

Most wanted sculptures returned to India

ICE returns recovered, 'most wanted' stolen antiquities to India

NEW YORK —U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) returned three recovered sculptures, valued at more than $1.5 million, to the government of India Tuesday during a repatriation ceremony at the consulate in New York City.

One of the objects –- a 350-pound sandstone sculpture stolen from an Indian temple in 2009 –- was listed as one of INTERPOL's top 10 most wanted stolen works of art.

Two of the three artifacts returned to India were reported in 2009 by the Archaeological Survey of India, who notified the Indian Consulate about two sandstone sculptures stolen from the Gadgach Temple in Atru, Rajasthan, India. The 350-pound "Vishnu and Lakshmi" sandstone sculpture dates back to the 11th or 12th century and was listed as No. 6 on INTERPOL's top 10 most wanted works of art. Also stolen from the temple and repatriated during the Jan. 14 ceremony was the 600-pound "Vishnu and Parvati" sandstone sculpture, dating to the same period.

The third artifact is a male deity black sandstone sculpture, depicting a Bodhisattva, a popular subject in Buddhist art, and is believed to date back to the 11th or early 12th century from either the Indian State of Bihar or Bengal.

The investigation began April 13, 2010, when HSI New York special agents received information that the Indian sandstone sculptures recently looted from India were being offered for sale in the United States. HSI special agents discovered that the "Vishnu and Lakshmi" was transported from India to Hong Kong. From there, it was sold to a dealer in Thailand, and then resold to a buyer in London. The London buyer shipped the sculpture to New York City for an exhibition in March 2010. On April 15, 2010, HSI special agents recovered the piece while it was being shipped back to London.

On July 12, 2010, as a direct result of the "Vishnu and Lakshmi" seizure, a sister piece, the "Vishnu and Parvati," was seized. It was transported to Hong Kong, sold to a buyer in New York and then sold and shipped to a buyer in Basel, Switzerland.

On July 7, 2011, the Indian black stone Bodhisattva figure was discovered being smuggled into the United States at Newark Airport by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers. HSI special agents seized it after discovering that its accompanying paperwork declared Great Britain as a false country of origin. In addition, the item was grossly undervalued.

The last ICE cultural property repatriation to India was in 2006 when ICE agents in NY returned a ninth century stone idol that had been stolen from a temple in Mandsaur in Madhya Pradesh in 2000.

Dino smuggling plea

A Wyoming fossil dealer has pleaded to dinosaur smuggling charges after Customs agents found a skeleton in his closet. Well, not a complete skeleton. Just the skull of a T-Bataar that had been sneaked out of Mongolia. And, technically, it wasn’t his closet. It was rented by the store’s director, but the dealer was the landlord.

The skull had been a centerpiece at Wyoming store until news broke of an earlier T-Bataar smuggling case out of New York. Then it was closet time.

Agents found a collection of other fossils, including another Bataar skull hiding in a crawlspace at the dealer’s home, authorities said.

Here is what Immigration and Customs Enforcement said about the case:

Wyoming fossil retailer pleads guilty to smuggling dinosaur and other fossils into the US

CHEYENNE, Wyo. —A Wyoming fossil retailer pleaded guilty Thursday to an Information charging conspiracy to smuggle dinosaur and other fossilized bones into the United States from China and Mongolia.

This guilty plea was announced by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Wyoming. This investigation was conducted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations, with assistance from U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

John Richard Rolater, 69, pleaded guilty to the charge and also agreed to surrender any and all contraband vertebrate fossils he has, which include the following fossils from China: a saber-toothed cat skull, a Feilongus fossil, an Anchiornis Huxleyi fossil and a Darwinopterus fossil.

As part of the plea agreement, Rolater also agreed to pay a $25,000 fine, and to two years of supervised probation. A formal sentencing date has not yet been set.

Rolater owns and operates two “By Nature Gallery” retail stores in Jackson, Wyo., and Beaver Creek, Colo.

This investigation began in June 2012 following a hot-line tip which was forwarded to HSI special agents in Casper, Wyo. The tipster reported that a Tyrannosaurus Bataar fossilized skull being sold by Rolater in his Jackson, Wyo., store was originally from Mongolia. However, immediately after the HSI seizure of a separate Bataar skull was publicized in New York, the Bataar skull displayed in Rolater’s Jackson, Wyo., store was removed. HSI special agents obtained a search warrant and discovered the skull June 22, 2012 hidden in a closet of the rented residence of the store’s director, which was owned by Rolater.

HSI special agents executed another search warrant at Rolater’s Eagle, Colo., residence Aug. 1, 2012. They discovered and seized the following items: a fossilized Gallimimus foot, six computers, two electronic storage devices, a box of business documents from Rolater, and a fossilized juvenile Bataar skull, which was hidden in the crawl space of Rolater’s house.

Both China and Mongolia have extensive cultural patrimony laws that specifically protect prehistoric fossils.

During this investigation, HSI seized the following smuggled fossils, which will ultimately be repatriated back to their country of origin:

Micro-Raptor (4), total value $173,000
Bataar Skull (3) $1,875,000
Dinosaur Eggs (10) $5,075
Bataar lower leg (1) $75,000
Keichosaurus (15) $3,990
Gallimimus foot (1) $18,750
Sinovenator (2) $70,000
Protoceratops (1) $100,000
Anchiormis (1) $30,000
Gallimimus skeleton (1) $100,000

Photos: Winter paths

Photos from a winter morning following a fresh snowfall. Shots include a road under a railroad bridge and the gate to an abandoned riverside lot. (C) J.S. Reinitz.