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Kai Xu, 27, of
Windsor, Ontario, admitted to smuggling or trying to smuggle
more than 1,600 turtles of different species out of the United
States from April 2014 until his arrest in September 2014. Each
of the six counts carries a sentence of up to 10 years in
prison.
In August 2014, Xu crossed the U.S.-Canada border into Detroit
and was watched by U.S. agents as he picked up a package at a
parcel center and appeared to transfer items before heading back
to the border, according to a criminal complaint.
When he passed back through the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel, Xu was
stopped by Canadian Border Services, which found and seized 41
live turtles taped to his legs and 10 hidden between his legs,
the complaint said.
The day of his arrest, Xu packed more than 1,000 turtles into
suitcases that he sent with a runner he had hired to fly them to
Shanghai from Detroit, prosecutors said.
U.S. District Judge John Corbett O'Meara scheduled sentencing
for April 12 in Ann Arbor. Xu has been held in federal custody
since his arrest.
(Reporting by David Bailey in Minneapolis; Editing by Sandra
Maler)
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