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Cao Pi
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24 June 2010 - 10H00
Smuggler has brush with the law over rare fox penises
An arctic fox
Photograph by: Ansgar Walk
AFP - A South Korean shopkeeper will face charges for smuggling thousands of arctic fox penises from China to sell as love charms, customs officials said Thursday. The 57-year-old tried to import 4,900 penises through the port of Incheon west of Seoul, they said in a statement. The body parts are from species of fox found in northern Europe, Russia and Alaska that are becoming very rare. South Korean law bans the import of body parts from rare wildlife species.
"We found out that some Buddhist shops and fortune-tellers are selling such parts out of superstition that amulets made of them will bring back husbands who have left their wives or help women find husbands," one official said. "One piece sells at anywhere between 50,000 won (42 dollars) and 500,000 won," Yonhap news agency quoted him as saying. Officials said they would widen their probe to cover online sales.
