In 2015, seven boa constrictors seized in connection to an illegal wildlife smuggling scheme were returned to Brazil from the United States. The case started in 2006, when a boa constrictor – named Princess Diamond – with a rare genetic mutation was found in the forests of the Niterói district of Rio de Janeiro. The mutation, called leucism, meant the snake was completely white with black eyes, the first of its kind to have this pattern. Due to its rarity, the Brazilian authorities kept the white boa at the Niterói zoo. In 2009, an American collector, reptile breeder and seller from Utah travelled to Brazil and acquired the snake in an illegal sale and export operation. He allegedly paid $1 million USD for the snake and smuggled it back to the United States. He then began crossbreeding the snake with other boas, exploiting its high commercial value and profiting from its offspring. Once the Brazilian government learned of the case, it requested assistance from the United States to safely return the snake and its offspring. Thereafter, federal investigators obtained a warrant to seize the snake, but upon arriving at the property, they learned the snake had died. They transferred the seven surviving offspring to a zoo in Salt Lake City, and the animals were subsequently returned to Brazil.