The Japanese police arrested three Chinese after looking more closely at their suitcases. “There were thousands, thickened and they were in”

The police on a Japanese holiday island arrested three Chinese citizens after thousands of protected hermits were found hard in several suitcases, writes CNN.

The three suspects – Liao Zhibin, 24, Song Zhenhao, 26, and Guo Jiawei, were found in possession of 160 kilograms of live crustaceans on Wednesday, according to the amami islands, near Okinawa.

Police said an employee of a hotel in Amami, a city on the island of Amami Oshima, alerted the environmental authorities after observing something suspicious in the suitcases that the three men asked the hotel staff to supervise.

“They heard noises of foșnet coming from a suitcase that was kept in the warehouse,” said a police officer for CNN.

The officers arrived later at the hotel and found hermit crabs with thick spiral shell in six suitcases, according to the police.

The reason why the three men transported the crustaceans is not known.

The police did not provide more details on the exact species, but told CNN that captured hermits are classified as “national natural monuments” in Japan due to their cultural and scientific value and are protected by Japanese legislation.