A Chinese man has been charged with trying to sneak protected turtles out of the United States to be sold on "the global pet trade black market," the U.S. Department of Justice said in a news release.
Sai Keung Tin, 53, faces four charges for allegedly trafficking eastern box turtles to China.
Tin, a Hong Kong resident who also went by SK Tin, Ricky Tin and Ji Yearlong, was charged with four counts of exporting merchandise contrary to law.
He was arrested on Feb. 25 at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City but will be arraigned in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles in the next few weeks.
Last year, Tin sent 40 eastern box turtles to Hong Kong in four packages labeled as almonds and chocolate cookies and addressed to one of his aliases, the DOJ said, though they were intercepted at a mail facility in Torrance.
"Three of the packages contained between eight and 12 live eastern box turtles each – all bound in socks, according to court papers," the release said. "The fourth package contained seven live eastern box turtles and one deceased eastern box turtle."
The socks both protected the turtles' shells and prevented them from moving, prosecutors explained.
Despite being protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, colorful turtles are are "especially prized in the domestic and foreign pet trade market, particularly in China and Hong Kong," the release said.
Prosecutors allege Tin was working with 27-year-old Kang Juntao of Hangzhou City, China, a felon convicted of money laundering and international turtle smuggler who "recruited turtle poachers and suppliers in the United States to ship turtles domestically to middlemen, who would then bundle the turtles into other packages and export them to Hong Kong," the DOJ said.
From June 2017 to December 2018 alone, Kang "caused at least 1,500 turtles – with a market value exceeding $2.25 million – to be shipped from the United States to Hong Kong," prosecutors added.
If convicted, Tin could be sentenced to up to 10 years in federal prison on each count.