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New Zealand arrests alleged orchid thieves

, New Zealand, Jan. 19 (UPI) -- Two Czech men have been charged with stealing rare native orchids from New Zealand's national parks and smuggling them out of the country.

The arrests were announced Monday by the Wildlife Enforcement Group, a multi-agency team that investigates the smuggling of plants and animals.

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The group refused to say where the two were arrested, how they smuggled the orchids or the type and quantity of specimens they allegedly took, the New Zealand Herald reported.

A network of about 150 New Zealand orchid lovers has been on the alert for the thieves since before Christmas and said it's the first time anyone has been caught.

Ian St. George, of the New Zealand Native Orchid Group, said word went out on their "amateur grapevine" about a suspicious pair of orchid hunters who were asking to be guided to the flowers.

The pursuit of orchids is an international phenomenon popularized in the movie "Adaptation" and the best-selling book "The Orchid Thief."

Orchids go for up to $24,000 on the international black market. Demand comes from private botanical collections in Japan, Germany and the U.S. west coast, the Herald said.

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