One of the turtles was found dead (Picture: US Fish and Wildlife Service)
A man has been charged with smuggling protected turtles by stuffing the reptiles into pairs of socks.
Sai Keung Tin, 53, from Hong Kong, was indicted Friday by Californian prosecutors on four counts of exporting merchandise contrary to law.
The 40 eastern box turtles were kept inside Tin’s socks to muffle their cries, the US Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California said.
He stored the turtles, which can live up to 100 years, in a package to be sent from the US to China as part of the ‘global pet trade black market’ in June 2023.
Wildlife inspectors intercepted the four packages at a mail facility in Torrance, a coastal city in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, addressed to ‘Ji Yearlong’.
The boxes, which were to be shipped to the suspect’s Hong Kong home before smugglers took them to the mainland, were labelled as containing almonds and chocolate cookies, according to an affidavit.
‘Three of the packages contained between eight and 12 live eastern box turtles each – all bound in socks, according to court papers,’ the Attorney’s Office said.
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‘The fourth package contained seven live eastern box turtles and one deceased eastern box turtle.’
Officials believe Yearlong is one of Tin’s many aliases, which include ‘SK Tin’ and ‘Ricky Tin’, and he has ties to convicted felon and international turtle smuggler Kang Juntao, 27, of Hangzhou City, China.
Kang pleaded guilty to a money laundering charge after his extradition from Malaysia in 2019 and was sentenced to 38 months in federal prison.
Though Kang was locked up, packages continued to be sent to Tin and intercepted in Torrance, a US Fish and Wildlife special agent wrote.
Tin was arrested in New York after arriving at John F Kennedy International Airport on February 25.
If found guilty, the suspect faces up to 10 years behind bars.
The eastern box turtle, known for their spotty olive-brown shells lined with yellow and orange, is found in marshy meadows and woodlands in the eastern US.
The species is protected under federal law and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Flora and Fauna.
They fetch a hefty sum on the black market, having a total value in the pet trade of around $2.25m (about £1,800,000).
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