Police arrested Wan Yee Ng, 41, who was planning to smuggle 29 protected eastern box turtles into Canada from Vermont. Her thinking was to row them across a Vermont lake in an inflatable kayak to later resell on the Chinese black market.
According to a Border Patrol agent's affidavit affidavit, she wrapped the turtles in socks and put them in a duffle bag before heading into Lake Wallace. Also known as Wallace Pond, the northeastern Vermont lake is right on the border of Quebec, Canada.
The document also noted that eastern box turtles are commonly sold for $1,000 each. Apparently she planned to resell them for top dollar in Hong Kong.
The AP reports that Ng, who pleaded guilty, is "scheduled to be sentenced in December and faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000."
Previously:
• Memory smuggler caught with hundreds of SSD drives taped to waist
• Leech smuggler busted at Toronto airport
• Drug smuggler busted with half a kilo of cocaine under his bad toupée
