Many Australian animals and plants are unique to the country, and certain animals – particularly lizards and other reptiles – can only be found in remote areas, making them a desirable, lucrative product to sellers and organised criminals. Australian intelligence suggests that international black-market prices for Australian reptiles can be more than 28 times the domestic price, with these high profits and the low penalties for wildlife smuggling attracting many criminals to the illegal wildlife trade. In 2024, Australian police dismantled a smuggling ring involved in exporting native lizards and reptiles, arresting four individuals for attempting to export more than 1.2 million AUD worth of native lizards and reptiles to Hong Kong. The operation was discovered in September 2023, when nine packages containing 59 live lizards were stopped en route to Hong Kong, with police finding a total of 257 lizards and three snakes during the investigation, both in packages and at addresses used by the group.