Canadian man caught trying to smuggle 51 live turtles into US in his sweatpants

A Canadian man taped 51 live turtles to his legs and groin and tried to hide them under sweatpants in an attempt to smuggle the reptiles over the Detroit border crossing, according to federal prosecutors in Michigan. The man was captured as part of a surveillance operation conducted by US Fish and Wildlife Service agents. An official with the service said there has been an increase in turtle smuggling in the last year, which they attribute to demand in Asian food and collector markets.

“These turtles, by the time they get to the end-collector, they can be worth anywhere from $1,300 to $1,500 a turtle,” said Ed Grace, deputy chief law enforcement officer with the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Prosecutors say Kai Xu and Lihua Lin attempted to smuggle several species of North American pond turtles out of the US and into Canada. On 5 August, two fish and wildlife agents say they watched Xu disappear behind two semi-trailers in a Detroit parking lot for about 10 minutes before reappearing with, “irregularly shaped bulges under Xu’s sweatpants on both legs”.



Xu was later stopped by Canadian border patrol after he drove through the Detroit to Windsor, Ontario crossing. Xu’s attorney, Timothy Debolski of Garden City, Michigan, said it’s too early to comment on Xu’s case. Agents said they were tipped off by a Detroit UPS employee identified only as “Dave”, who alerted agents to a seven pound box labeled “live fish keep cool”. In an indictment of Lin, agents said they surveilled Xu as he drove Lin to the Detroit Metropolitan Airport on Tuesday. Lin was bound for Shanghai. He checked two bags, in which fish and wildlife agents say they found more than 200 live turtles, including the protected spotted turtle.

Fish and wildlife service agents say turtles are far from the only North American animals targeted by poachers. A spokesman for the fish and wildlife office, Gavin Shire, said agents sometimes find hummingbirds smuggled in wigs, and that rattlesnakes and Gila Monsters are also popular prey for smugglers. “Not just with turtles, I see it with ginseng, I see it with how wildlife in the United States can be, you know, coveted by collectors or for food markets,” said Grace. Both men were indicted on illegal smuggling charges and violations of the endangered species act. The turtles were seized by fish and wildlife agents.