Law enforcement intercepted the turtles during a border inspection and observed them bound and taped inside knotted socks within the shipping boxes,” the DOJ said.

A Chinese national living in Brooklyn tried to smuggle $1.4 million worth of protected turtles out of the United States — by passing them off as “plastic animal toys,” prosecutors said Monday.

Between August 2023 and November 2024, Wei Qiang Lin exported to Hong Kong more than 200 parcels containing the turtles, according to a Justice Department statement on Monday. The boxes packed with the turtles had been labelled as "containing 'plastic animal toys', among other things", the authorities said.

Wei Qiang Lin admitted trying to smuggle the reptiles, which were reportedly worth more than $1 million, from New York City to Hong Kong.

A New York resident has admitted to attempting to smuggle protected turtles, valued at more than $1 million, from the United States to Hong Kong, concealing them in boxes falsely labelled as "plastic animal toys".