Man admits trying to smuggle 850 protected turtles worth £1 million to Hong Kong

The reptiles are protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (US Dept of Justice via AP)

A New York resident has admitted he tried to smuggle protected turtles worth more than one million US dollars from the US to Hong Kong by shipping them in boxes labelled “plastic animal toys”.

Wei Qiang Lin, a Chinese national who lives in Brooklyn, pleaded guilty in federal court in New York on Monday to attempting to export more than 220 parcels containing around 850 eastern box turtles and three-toed box turtles, according to the US justice department.

The turtles, with an estimated market value of 1.4 million dollars (£1 million), were intercepted by law enforcement at a border inspection, prosecutors said. Officers saw them bound and taped inside knotted socks within the shipping boxes.

Eastern box turtles and three-toed box turtles feature colourful markings and are a “prized feature” in the domestic and foreign pet market, particularly in China and Hong Kong, prosecutors said.

The reptiles are protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.

Lin also shipped 11 other parcels filled with reptiles, including venomous snakes, prosecutors said.

He faces up to five years in prison when he is sentenced on December 23.