A 53-year-old man has been charged with turtle trafficking after wildlife inspectors at a Torrance mail facility intercepted packages containing protected eastern box turtles allegedly addressed to one of the defendant’s aliases in China.
Sai Keung Tin, of Hong Kong was charged on Friday, March 8, in Los Angeles federal court with four counts of exporting merchandise contrary to law, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Tin was arrested Feb. 25 at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City and made his initial appearance the following day in federal court in Brooklyn.
According to the indictment, Tin in June knowingly and illegally aided in the exportation of 40 eastern box turtles to be sent from the United States to China. Wildlife inspectors at an international mail facility in Torrance intercepted the four packages addressed to “Ji Yearlong,” which were to be shipped to Tin’s home in Hong Kong, according to court documents.
Tin allegedly labeled the packages as containing almonds and chocolate cookies.
Three of the packages contained eight to 12 live eastern box turtles each — all bound in socks, according to court papers. The fourth package contained seven live eastern box turtles and one that had died. A special agent also searched property records and learned that the name listed as the sender on each of the packages was fake, federal prosecutors said.
The eastern box turtle is a subspecies of the common box turtle and is native to forested regions of the eastern United States with some isolated populations in the Midwest. Turtles with colorful markings are especially prized in the domestic and foreign pet trade market, particularly in China and Hong Kong.
The animals are protected by an international agreement to protect fish, wildlife and plants that are or may become threatened with extinction. The United States and China are parties to this agreement, prosecutors said.
An affidavit filed in the case alleges that…
Read the full article here
