NY Museum Curator Allegedly Smuggles 1,500 Venomous Spiders, Scorpions Out Of Turkey; Gets Arrested
A New York museum curator allegedly attempted to smuggle thousands of scorpions and spiders out of Turkey.
The Turkish police reportedly seized the smuggled valuable specimens when they arrested the suspect at Istanbul Airport on Sunday.
On Monday, the suspect -- who allegedly tried to smuggle dozens of bags containing 1,500 venomous scorpions and spiders and some plastic bottles containing unspecified liquids out of the country -- was identified as Lorenzo Prendini, a curator at New York's American Museum of Natural History, according to Reuters.
Per the police, the specimens Prendini tried to smuggle were endemic to Turkey, and their DNA and venom could be used to make expensive medicine.
"It is understood that these medicines have very high financial values, and, therefore, taking these animal species abroad is strictly forbidden," the police said.
The market value of one liter of medicine from a scorpion's venom is reportedly worth $10 million, Reuters reported, citing state media outlet Anadolu.
However, in a BBC report, the museum creator denied the accusations and charges against him. The outlet also noted that the specimens and samples seized from Prendini were dead.
He reportedly told the outlet via email that he had appeared before a Turkish judge and was released without charges after being detained for a night in jail.
He said that the airport officials "completely ignored" the government permits that allowed him to take the specimens out of the country, noting that the permits enabled him to conduct research with Turkish scientists.
"The police completely ignored this and relied on the testimony of an 'expert' who has a conflict of interest with my collaborators... and whose scientific research is highly questionable," Prendini told the BBC.
"The police have completely violated due process, and it appears they would like to find me guilty in the court of public opinion."
Based on Prendini's profile published on the American Museum of Natural History's website in 2012, he is the associate curator of the Division of Invertebrate Zoology at the museum.
"Dr. Lorenzo Prendini's research interests lie in the empirical study of phylogeny, macroevolution, speciation, biogeography and comparative evolutionary biology, using scorpions as model organisms," his profile read.
"Besides arachnids, he is interested in the evolution of insect-plant associations."
