Three men held over suitcases stuffed with hermit crab

Three men have been arrested in Japan for attempting to smuggle hermit crabs outside the country.

Suspects, aged 24, 26 and 27, and widely identified in Japanese media as Chinese citizens, were detained on Amami, a southern island where the spiral crustaceans were protected species.

Authorities were signaled to live men when hotel employees, who were asked to take care of their luggage, noticed the suitcases that show “noise,” police told local media.

Subsequently, the officers discovered “thousands” of a hermit crab weighing about 95 kg. The third man has been found to have another 65 kg in another set of three suitcases.

“Our investigation continues to identify whether they had (Crabs) to sell them or to keep them as pets, or to eat them,” a police spokesman told the AFP news agency after Wednesday. “We look at all opportunities.”

Police said the hermit crabs are a “national treasure” as part of the plant and the diversity of Amami Island.

Hermit crabs – so -called because they clean the shells in which to live – can be seen regularly on the beaches of the popular tourist destination.

Crabs can cost up to 20,000 (£ 103), according to the Times of Japan.