Chinese man pleads guilty in US to smuggling protected turtles / Photo: - - USFWS/AFP
NYSE - LSE
| RBGPF | 1.49% | 76.43 | $ | |
| CMSD | -0.08% | 24.33 | $ | |
| NGG | -0.89% | 70.52 | $ | |
| CMSC | 0.37% | 24.17 | $ | |
| SCS | 0.12% | 16.7 | $ | |
| AZN | -2.49% | 73.53 | $ | |
| BP | 0.14% | 35.26 | $ | |
| RELX | -0.19% | 46.28 | $ | |
| RIO | 2.38% | 65.43 | $ | |
| GSK | -1.67% | 39.52 | $ | |
| BTI | -0.06% | 52.35 | $ | |
| BCC | -1.41% | 76.65 | $ | |
| BCE | -0.3% | 23.05 | $ | |
| JRI | -0.5% | 13.97 | $ | |
| RYCEF | -0.7% | 15.64 | $ | |
| VOD | -0.53% | 11.27 | $ |
Chinese man pleads guilty in US to smuggling protected turtles
A Chinese man faces up to five years in prison for trying to smuggle protected turtles worth more than $1 million from the United States to Hong Kong.
Wei Qiang Lin, of Brooklyn, pleaded guilty on Monday in a federal district court in New York to exporting more than 220 parcels containing around 850 eastern box turtles and three-toed box turtles.
The Justice Department said the live turtles had been wrapped in socks for the weeks-long journey and the boxes with the reptiles had been labeled as containing "plastic animal toys."
The turtles, which had a market value of $1.4 million, were intercepted by law enforcement at a border inspection, it said.
Eastern box turtles and three-toed box turtles feature colorful markings and are a "prized feature in the domestic and foreign pet market, particularly in China and Hong Kong," the Justice Department said in a statement.
It said they are protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
Sentencing was set for December 23. Lin faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000.
L.Papageorgiou--AN-GR
