Adeleke Ali Caught With Illegal Crocodile Meat At Calgary Airport

Adeleke Abubakar Ali-Ibironke, who was apprehended at Calgary International Airport earlier this year for possessing meat from an endangered African dwarf crocodile, has been fined $7,500. On September 20, he pleaded guilty to unlawfully importing an animal species without the required permits in the Alberta Court of Justice.

Ali-Ibironke had arrived in Calgary on February 26 without declaring any animal or food products.

A West African dwarf crocodile rests under a heat lamp in a pool at the zoo on Friday, June 4, 2010 in Racine, Wis.

The Canada Border Services Agency caught a man trying to smuggle six pounds of crocodile meat past customs officers at the Calgary International Airport in February.

A West African dwarf crocodile rests under a heat lamp in a pool at the zoo on Friday, June 4, 2010 in Racine, Wis. The Canada Border Services Agency caught a man trying to smuggle six pounds of crocodile meat past customs officers at the Calgary International Airport in February. (AP Photo/Journal Times, Scott Anderson)

An investigation by the Canada Border Services Agency revealed six pounds of meat in his luggage, later identified as African dwarf crocodile meat, a threatened species.

He was charged under the Wild Animal and Plant Protection and Regulation of International and Interprovincial Trade Act, a law designed to protect Canadian and foreign plant and animal species from exploitation.

African dwarf crocodiles have been designated as a Level 1 species at risk under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) since 1995, with commercial trade generally prohibited. The fine will be directed to the Government of Canada’s Environmental Damages Fund.