After thousands of rare Chilean cacti were found in the house of an Italian collector, a years-long trial slowly unravelled ...

Damages of €20,000 were paid to ABC for its legal costs and to further its conservation work in very desert the plants came ...

in which law enforcement agencies discovered cacti in the Eriosyce and Copiapoa genera at the home of a suspected smuggler in Ancona. These rare species are in high demand on the black market.

But reaching out of nooks in the cracked crust along the desert's coast, there lie thousands of Copiapoa cacti. A cactus group made up of more than 30 species, Copiapoa are found only in Chile.

"There are trends, this year Copiapoa atacamensis is the most fashionable," says Gonzalez, whose usual trail includes sightings of the species atacamensis, cineria and the rarer solaris.