$19,000 handbag destroyed by Australian customs agents

An alligator-skin handbag worth $19,000 was destroyed by Australian customs agents.

CNN Travel reported the Yves Saint Laurent bag was bought from a boutique in France and seized when it arrived at a cargo port in Perth in January.

Agents said the shopper had secured the appropriate license to export the bag from Europe but had not gotten the import license required for an alligator-skin product. That led to the Australian agents confiscating the bag.

While those types of products are legal in Australia, they are controlled through a program that restricts trade on endangered species.