A Chinese man has pleaded guilty in a U.S. district court for smuggling around 850 protected turtles, and other animals worth an estimated of about $1.4 million from the U.S. to the Chinese territory of Hong Kong.
The man named Wei Qiang Lin particularly labeled the boxes as containing "plastic animal toys among other things”.
Authorities announced the news of the arrest, stating, “Law enforcement intercepted the turtles during a border inspection and observed them bound and taped inside knotted socks within the shipping boxes.”
According to the prosecutors, the alleged smuggler has exported large Eastern box turtles and three-toed box turtles.
However, Lin pleaded guilty at the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York for falsely labelling the live turtles as fake toys and subsequently exporting them to delivery boxes.
He was of the view that he “primarily shipped eastern box turtles and three-toed box turtles, native U.S. species which feature colorful markings-a prized feature in the domestic and foreign pet market particularly in China and Hong Kong.”
He has faced a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a fine up to $250,000 due to his illegal activity.
US authorities estimated that seized turtles had a combined market value of about $1.4million.