The two American visitors who were arrested after being found in breach of the Fisheries Regulations and the Wild Animal Protection Act are expected to appear in court in Georgetown, Exuma on Tuesday, February 10.
The pair, 24-year-old Alexander Daniel Rust of Indiana, and 23-year-old Vanessa Starr Palm of Illinois were given police bail in the amount of $500 each.
The two had posted photographs of themselves in the Exuma Cays on a social networking website on the Internet.
The series of photographs displayed shows the suspects catching an iguana, parts of an iguana on a grill, two men eating the iguana pieces, and a man and a woman cleaning what appears to be undersized conch.
The photos were widely distributed via email to persons around the country by concerned individuals.
Chief Superintendent Willard Cunningham ex-plained that the police in Exuma were alerted to the offences by officials of the Bahamas National Trust who had seen the email and launched an immediate investigation into the matter, which led to the suspects' arrest around midnight Monday in the vicinity of Black Point and Staniel Cay.
Although Cunningham said it is not a common occurrence for persons to be found breaching the Wild Animal Protection Act which prohibits the possession of dead or live iguanas, he said his department is prepared to execute their duties as it relates to maintaining the law.
"I haven't heard about that for a long time. I never really heard of anyone being charged of that particular act for many years," he said.
"Once we have information that persons are breaching those Acts, we will enforce it to the tee."
Iguanas are protected under the Convention and Intern-ational Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
