SMUGGLERS are making a fortune trafficking the latest weird pet obsession — woodlice.
They buy exotic variants of the critters from countries such as Vietnam and Thailand to sell to growing numbers of British fans.
The isopods, which come in many colours and have species nicknames such as Rubber Ducky and Panda King, can sell for up to £50 each.
While buying and selling the invertebrates in the UK is legal, non-native and endangered species are often sourced unethically from abroad.
Unscrupulous traders are shipping them into the country using plain packaging to evade export and import fees, and customs and import checks, The Sun has learnt.
An insider said: “Trading these insects is incredibly lucrative.
“There are people in these groups who have told me that they used to sell cocaine but now they trade isopods because they make more money and way less risk.
“There are people who have bribed flight attendants to courier them into the country.
“They are smuggled like drugs.”
Legitimate sellers are calling for action on smuggling and a ban on selling isopods caught in the wild.
Clare Goodwin, from Bugs and Beyond in Lincolnshire, said “Some species are under threat of extinction due to the pet trade destroying their home.”
Defra said a licence was needed to import invertebrates while anyone caught releasing non-native species into the wild faced prosecution.
