{"id":21464,"date":"2026-06-06T13:09:33","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T13:09:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/australian-cockroach-kingpin-caught-with-100000-illegal-insects-in-record-bug-bust\/"},"modified":"2026-06-06T13:09:33","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T13:09:33","slug":"australian-cockroach-kingpin-caught-with-100000-illegal-insects-in-record-bug-bust","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/australian-cockroach-kingpin-caught-with-100000-illegal-insects-in-record-bug-bust\/","title":{"rendered":"Australian cockroach kingpin caught with 100,000 illegal insects in record bug bust"},"content":{"rendered":"
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WELLINGTON, New Zealand – <\/span>More than 100,000 live cockroaches illegal to keep in Australia were confiscated from a single breeder in the country’s largest-ever seizure of exotic invertebrates, officials said Friday (June 5).<\/p>\n

The haul of Madagascar hissing cockroaches and dubia cockroaches, worth A$200,000 (S$182,000), was seized in May from a commercial breeder in the city of Bathurst in New South Wales state, according to Australia’s Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water.<\/p>\n

The Madagascar hissing species is one of the world’s biggest cockroaches, measuring 5 to 8cm in length. Photos released by the department showed a shiny, brown invertebrate larger than a person’s finger.<\/p>\n

It’s much bigger than the country’s common Australian cockroach, which measures between 2.3 and 3.6cm long. Cockroaches flourish in Australia due to its sub-tropical climates and the country is home to hundreds of species.<\/p>\n

Bathurst snake catcher Stefanie Lesser told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation that the larger exotic species were likely being sold as as a cost-effective reptile food because their large size meant fewer insects were needed. <\/p>\n

Officials urged pet owners to seek out crickets or wood roaches to feed their lizards instead.<\/p>\n

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Both Madagascar hissing and dubia cockroaches are illegal to import into Australia. They can’t be legally kept, bred or sold no matter how they were obtained, the department said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Australia has strict biosecurity controls at its borders to protect its agriculture and horticulture sectors and native wildlife from pest infestations. <\/p>\n

Those smuggling in undeclared or illegal animal, insect or plant material can be fined thousands of dollars.<\/p>\n

Exotic cockroaches “have not been subject to an environmental risk assessment” and they could spread disease or harm native wildlife, the statement said. <\/p>\n

Officials warned of prosecutions against those caught with the invertebrates.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson said charges weren’t laid against the Bathurst breeder. The cockroaches seized would be euthanised, the department said.<\/p>\n

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[[nid:729879]]<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Australian cockroach kingpin caught with 100,000 illegal insects in record bug bust<\/sub><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

WELLINGTON, New Zealand – More than 100,000 live cockroaches illegal to keep in Australia were confiscated from a single breeder in the country’s largest-ever seizure of exotic invertebrates, officials said Friday (June 5). The haul of Madagascar hissing cockroaches and dubia cockroaches, worth A$200,000 (S$182,000), was seized in May from a commercial breeder in the…<\/p>\n

Read More “Australian cockroach kingpin caught with 100,000 illegal insects in record bug bust”<\/span> »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21465,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21464","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21464"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21464\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jobuzo.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}