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Packages at California postal facilities were labelled almonds and chocolate cookies. However, inside, dozens of turtles wrapped in socks were wrapped in socks, trying not to let them move and warn the authorities.
They are among about 2,100 turtles, and say Chinese citizen Sai Keng Ting has trafficked people for more than five years as part of what the US Department of Justice calls the illegal Asian pet trade. Tin pleaded guilty to four exported goods in December, contrary to federal law.
On Friday morning in downtown Los Angeles, US District Judge Josephine Staton was sentenced to Tin to prison for nearly three years in the role of smuggling protected turtles abroad.
The Eastern Box Turtle, known for its shell’s bright yellow orange mark, was tied up from Hong Kong’s east coast, intercepted in Torrance and urged to be charged in California. Justice Department lawyers say native North American species are coveted by the rising middle class, and are worth at least $2,000 each on the black market.
Turtles are forested areas in the eastern US, with several isolated populations in the Midwest. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, they can usually reach up to 6 inches long and live more than 100 years.
“Some people admire wine, flashy cars and artwork, but for now, [the] Ryan Connors, senior trial counsel for the Department of Justice’s environmental crimes division, said at the ruling hearing: “The status symbol is a North American turtle.”
According to the Department of Justice, turtles are protected by the International Trade Treaty of Wild Fauna and Flora of Endangered Species species of wild fauna and flora.
According to his lawyer William Harris, Tin has already served more than a year in prison for more than a year. Harris said Tin opposed the ruling and directed him to file a notice of appeal.
“We’ll take it from there,” Harris said.
According to the government’s memorandum of ruling, Tin supported and betted US turtle smuggling from February 2018 to June 2023. Officials estimated the smuggled reptiles were valued at $4.2 million.
During the hearing, Tin denied through an interpreter – smuggling as many turtles as the government claimed.
“I didn’t know how serious my crime was, so while I was trying to justify breaking the law, I didn’t think it was such a bad thing to help put turtles in my hometown of Hong Kong,” Tin wrote in a letter to the judge prior to the verdict. “I know the seriousness of my crime, so I can make a promise to the court. I will never do it again.”
The lawsuit against TIN occurred in June 2023 when US Fish and Wildlife Services inspectors intercepted four packages containing 40 Eastern Box Turtles at an international postal facility in Torrance. One of them contained a dead turtle, the package was addressed to “Ji Yearlong,” which is thought to be one of the alias for Tin. Prosecutors say they are assumed to have been shipped to Tinn’s house in Hong Kong.
Tinn’s lawyer, Harris, said in a memo in the ruling that his clients have agreed to receive box turtles that are illegally shipped from New York and New Jersey to their homes in Hong Kong.
“These were generally supposed to be pets of the family,” Harris told the judge Friday. “[Tin] It’s been done in the trafficking of Turtles, but that was his fierce mistake. ”
Agents arrested Tin in February 2024 after arriving at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. Ju judges indicted him in March 2024.
While in the US, authorities said Tin planned to pay for the turtles in cash, and that they would ship them nationwide and later illegally export to HONGONG. Prosecutors said there is detailed information on how to soak the turtle to reduce the smell and attach it to the socks with tape.
Authorities said Tin was linked to Kang Jun Tao, an international turtle smuggler from Hangzhou, China. The administration was handed over from Malaysia in 2019 and later sentenced to prison after pleading guilty to money laundering. According to prosecutors, Kang had at least 1,500 turtles shipped from the US to Hong Kong.
“We see thousands of people being torn out of the wild and sent into illegal pet trade,” Connors said. “This is how native species in the US began to collapse.”
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