http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/sydney-nsw/scales-of-justice-snake-trade-done-and-dusted-with-fingerprints/story-e6freuzi-1226275273118

I wonder how they went taking the fingerprints off the snakes and if they will lead to charges. pretty nifty idea i don't see any reason why they couldn't lift a decent print off them. I'm sure it will come out soon who it is that was busted but needlless to say it's gonna ruffle a few feathers. APS has moved the story away so no one can comment on it, I don't know why they can't just let things run and not be nazis all the time.

The person who was raided was apparently Neil Simpson.
Information given to me today is that they raided his house, his mothers house and a so called safe.
No doubt there will be plenty of news to follow.

Wow they also found rats.

Huh, I didnt think it could just be me all the time, thanks Scott.

This one is interesting.  The guy has actually done a lot of very positive things for amateur herpetology and hobby keeping in Australia. Yet at the same time he has been involved in smuggling reptiles for a long time.  At the end of the day, does the balance sheet show a negative or a minus.  Those with little or no association will obviously see it as a deficit.  However, don't be surprised to see reputable members of the herp community go into bat for him.

Mike

Trust me most of his so called friends are jumping ship very quickly and more will follow when they know what he is really charged for ( Very serious charges that have nothing to do with reptiles ). As for the true respected herpers, well they never had a bar of this pretender anyway. True respect money can't buy and when people find out it wasn't really his money in the first place, any respect given will feel fraudulently given.

Who is this dodgy book seller?. If APS are supporting someone who regulary rips people off , then that site needs to be publicly critised and people warned and I will gladly make a small start here. Slateman needs to get this sorted out quick smart.

I'm one who was associated with this person, as editor of the magazine he was trying to establish. The wheels on our working relationship began to seize up months ago, and I ceased all contact with him and his magazine several weeks ago, long before these matters came to the fore, and largely because issues of personal ethics became a major concern for me. I persisted with my attempts to work on the magazine in the face of months of significant personal abuse from this man because I though the product, not the man, was worth supporting. I guess you could say I "jumped ship," but not for any reason associated with recent developments, although as I said, I had great concerns about the ethics of this person as I learned more about him. I have months of emails from him where I am variously described as an extortionist, a saboteur and other things, simply because I started asking questions. I have not seen him, or spoken to him on the phone or otherwise, for several months. All communication was by email.

To be fair to APS, in this instance the thread was probably pulled because uninformed statements based on heresay were being made, and which were possibly prejudicial to the investigations currently underway, involving both the police and the wildlife authorities. Despite some of the things which have been said about me in the past 24 hours, my major concern is to keep the debate objective, so that it can continue, and if that means trying to quiet some of those who are careless in what they say, then so be it. Be assured, there is a great deal that will come out as time goes on, and the wildlife offences represent only a minor part of the overall investigation (which has been ongoing for more than 2 years).

It was the work of one or two contributors to the thread on APS which got it closed. Unfortunately, this served no one except the man at the centre of all this, as he had no grounds to seek closure himself (he had regularly been on APS throughout the day watching the thread) and it denies others the opportunity to access factual info (rather than gossip). I sought to have only those posts which had the potential to close the thread removed, and as a consequence copped a heap of personal abuse from one contributor in particular... and bingo... the thread was closed and removed.

This was exactly what I was hoping wouldn't happen. I suspect that there will always be a problem discussing this particular matter objectively on the forums, and despite what was said about me yesterday on APS, I have never, ever, defended bad behaviour, from him or anyone else. I'll stick up for particular principles at any time, and have no difficulty separating principles from the unethical actions of an individual.

The police (in particular) have a vast amount of material to investigate, so it will probably be some time before the police matters are brought to a conclusion. I am as keen as anyone to see justice done - my association with him has caused me a lot of stress, and significantly disrupted my life, as it has done many others.

Jamie

I'm so glad to see that his past is finally catching up with him.  I think the general public will be quite shocked when they find out what he's been up to.