Brooklyn man Wei Qiang Lin confessed to sending 850 turtles valued at $1.4 million to Hong Kong.
The reptiles were packed into more than 220 boxes labeled “plastic animal toys” when they were intercepted during a border inspection, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
Authorities said the turtles would’ve traveled for weeks bound and taped inside knotted socks within their shipping containers. Lin is accused of sending those parcels between August 2023 and November 2024.
He also attempted to move nearly a dozen shipments filled with reptiles including poisonous snakes, but he mainly dealt in eastern box and three-toed box turtles that are coveted in China and Hong Kong because of their colorful markings.
Both species are native to the U.S. and protected by the international Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
For 50 years, that agreement between 80 nations has aimed “to ensure that international trade in specimens of wild animals and plants does not threaten the survival of the species,” according to the CITES website.
Lin faces a maximum penalty of five years in prison and a fine as high as $250,000 when he’s sentenced on Dec. 23. As part of his plea, he also forfeited possession of the reptiles seized.
https://www.nydailynews.com/2025/08/12/brooklyn-ma-smuggling-turtles-hong-kong/