India, Aug. 13 -- A Chinese man has pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York for falsely labelling live turtles as fake toys prior to exporting them in delivery boxes on a weeks-long journey to Hong Kong.

He has been identified as Wei Qiang Lin of Brooklyn, New York.

According to court records, between August 2023 and November 2024, Lin exported to Hong Kong approximately 222 parcels containing around 850 turtles, but he labelled the boxes as containing "plastic animal toys," among other things.

"Law enforcement intercepted the turtles during a border inspection and observed them bound and taped inside knotted socks within the shipping boxes,' read a statement issued by the US Department of Justice

Li...