The packages in a California mail facility were labelled as almonds and chocolate biscuits. But inside were dozens of turtles wrapped in socks to keep them from moving and alerting authorities.
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They were among around 2,100 turtles federal authorities said Tin Sai-keung, a Chinese citizen, had trafficked over more than five years as part of what the US Department of Justice called the illegal Asian pet trade. Tin pleaded guilty in December to four counts of exporting merchandise contrary to federal law.
On Friday morning, in downtown Los Angeles, US District Judge Josephine Staton sentenced Tin to nearly three years in prison for his role in smuggling the protected turtles out of the country.
The eastern box turtles, known for the vivid yellow-orange markings on their shells, were bound from the East Coast for Hong Kong and were intercepted in Torrance, Los Angeles, prompting the case to be prosecuted in California. Department of Justice lawyers said the native North American species is coveted by a rising middle class and are worth at least US$2,000 each on the black market.
The turtles are native to forested regions of the eastern US, with some isolated populations in the Midwest. They typically reach a length up to 15 centimetre (6 inches) and can live more than 100 years, according to the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
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“Some people prize wine, fancy cars, artwork, but right now, with the rise of [the] middle class in China, it is turtles,” Ryan Connors, senior trial lawyer with the Department of Justice’s environmental crimes section, said at the sentencing hearing. “It is North American turtles that are a status symbol.”