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I was thinking something horrible but then I recalled how the US jailed some guys for years due to transporting some lobsters in a plastic bag[1], so yea...

[1]: https://www.economist.com/leaders/2010/07/22/rough-justice

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Well that certainly piqued my interest. Found this too, though: https://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/50631/did-abner...

Funny how disinformation can spread so easily. Reading that stackexchange link throws a different shade entirely.

The article, which is about the real subject of american incarceration rate, present those dudes as innocent bystanders commiting a minor offence which should not even be an offence. On the other hand, these guys have been illegaly exploiting wild life in a foreign country for almost a decade and got jailed.

Nothing to see here.

Actually, there IS one thing to see here: apparently a notable failure of journalism from The Economist.

Nice find. I read the Economist piece back then and found it quite wild. Good to know it wasn't as crazy as portrayed. Still, the Lacey Act seems like it could easily be abused, given that old, outdated laws tend to linger.

it’s very difficult to know the exact details of that story, but one thing for sure though is that it wasn’t “transport” as much as it is “import”.

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