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VENUS FLYTRAP SNARES A SMUGGLING CHARGE: On February 2, 1996, a Dutch
citizen was released on $50,000 bond after being arrested at Baltimore-
Washington International Airport on charges of trying to smuggle 9,000
Venus flytrap (Dionaea muscipula) seedlings into the Netherlands.
Prosecutors said that Hendrikus Lommerse was arrested on January 31, 1996,
after U.S. Customs and wildlife agents, acting on a tip, opened Lommerse's
suitcase and found the 9,000 seedlings. The Venus flytrap is listed on
Appendix II of CITES, and it is illegal to export an Appendix II species
from the United States without a CITES export permit.