An Australian man has been charged with stealing a monitoring tag from a great white shark, reportedly setting off a string of false shark alarms in Western Australia.
Police in the town of Albany charged the 48-year-old man with stealing an "acoustic monitor tag" used to track great white sharks off the coast, they said in a statement received Wednesday.
He is to face Albany magistrates court on November 4.
Tagged sharks trigger an alarm when they swim within range of a network of 34 receivers dotted along the West Australian coast, giving people real-time warnings of the danger at key locations.
Though police gave no further details, a report in the West Australian newspaper said the man removed the tag when he caught a great white shark by mistake and then released it alive.
The tag then allegedly set off shark alarms seven times between August 13 and September 4, the paper said.
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