These turtles weren't just numbers. They were native wildlife, stolen from American landscapes and packed away in brutal conditions.
A federal judge sentenced Wei Qiang Lin to 2 years in prison for smuggling hundreds of turtles to Hong Kong in packages falsely labeled as toys.
For many North American turtles, replacing a single adult taken from the wild can take decades. That's why wildlife trafficking is such a serious threat.
Thanks to the outstanding work of
@USFWS Office of Law Enforcement and our federal partners, this trafficker was caught and held accountable.
If you traffic America's wildlife, our officers will find you, build the case, and bring you to justice.