US EditionChinese Man Pleads Guilty in US to Smuggling Protected Turtles
Wei Qiang Lin smuggled turtles valued at $1.4 million by falsely labeling them as toys to exploit high demand in China and Hong Kong, officials said.
- Between August 2023 and November 2024, Wei Qiang Lin exported over 200 parcels containing around 850 protected turtles to Hong Kong, falsely labelled as toys.
- Lin primarily shipped eastern box turtles and three-toed box turtles, both native US species prized as pets with a combined seized market value of $1.4 million.
- Lin faces up to 5 years in prison and a $250,000 fine for smuggling the protected turtles after pleading guilty.
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149 Articles
Boxes Labeled 'Plastic Animal Toys' Were Worth $1.4M
A New York resident has admitted he tried to smuggle protected turtles worth more than $1 million from the United States to Hong Kong by shipping them in boxes labeled "plastic animal toys," reports the AP . Wei Qiang Lin, a Chinese national who lives in Brooklyn, pleaded guilty Monday in...
A Chinese man has pleaded guilty to attempting to smuggle more than 850 rare baby turtles from the US to Hong Kong, and faces up to five years in prison.
Chinese national in NYC tries to smuggle $1.4M worth of protected turtles to Hong Kong — by labeling them ‘toys’
Wei Qiang Lin, a Chinese national living in Brooklyn, tried to smuggle $1.4 million worth of protected turtles out of the United States -- by passing them off as “plastic animal toys,” prosecutors said Monday.
They are considered a symbol of social status in China, where they often pay handsomely to keep them as pets.
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