Smuggler Tries to Cross US-Canada Border With 51 Turtles in His Pants

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08:52 GMT, Sep 26, 2014

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There are many things one might expect

people to smuggle across the American

border and into other countries inside of their

pants, but dozens of aquatic reptiles? That’s exactly what one man was

found hiding near Detroit.

Canadian citizen Kai Xu was trying to return to Windsor when he was

caught with 51 turtles inside his sweat pants last month, according to

recently unsealed court documents, the Detroit Free Press reports. The

reason for stuffing his pants with this many animals isn’t clear at this point,

but officials investigating the incident believe that he was trying to sell the

turtles to markets in Asia, where the reptiles are a popular treat.

“There's now a burgeoning Asian market,” said Gavin Shire of the U.S. Fish

and Wildlife Service, who helped authorities investigate the incident. He

also told the newspaper there is “a lot of both illegal and unregulated turtle

consumption.”

Published time: September 26, 2014 04:09

Reuters/Kham

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1 of 5 26/09/2014 3:52 PM

At the same time, the criminal complaint filed in court does not state

whether or not Xu tried to clarify why he had more than 50 turtles in his

pants.

What authorities do know is that they spotted Xu picking up a package in

Detroit that was from Alabama and marked “live fish keep cool.” The

complaint says that after Xu opened the box, he was seen carrying a pair

of scissors, tape, and bags to a spot in between two UPS semi-trailers, only

to walk back to his car with no bags – instead, there were bulges under his

pant legs that could be seen.

As Xu made his way to the border and tried to enter Canada, he was

stopped in a search that uncovered eastern box turtles, red-eared sliders

and diamondback terrapins in his pants.

Law enforcement officials have levied three charges against Xu: smuggling

goods from the United States, trading in specimens illegally, and exporting

fish or wildlife illegally.

Notably, this isn’t the first time someone has been arrested trying to

smuggle turtles illegally – though last time, the turtles were actually found

to be going in the other direction: into the United States.

Under the title of “Operation Flying Turtle,” two Japanese citizens were

arrested for smuggling 55 turtles and tortoises into the United States. The

turtles were reportedly brought to the US and sold to pet stores by Atsushi

Yamagami of Osaka, who then used the money to buy various reptiles in

North American that could be sold again in Japan.

Yamagami is believed to have undertaken more than 40 trips between the

US and Japan before he was arrested. He was sentenced to 21 months in

prison and ordered to cough up $18,000 in fines. Ultimately, he

apologized for his behavior and vowed not to repeat it.

“I am extremely ashamed and remorseful about my actions,” he wrote in a

letter to a US judge.

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15 comments

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0

Reply8 minutes ago

AnthonySJuhl

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0

Replyan hour ago

Tard

How bad of a smuggler are you that you can't even smuggle things across the US-Canada border?

+1

Replyabout 2 hours ago

Atlantic

lies

+2

Replyabout 2 hours ago

Gaetan A Cincire

No turtle soup tonight kids. heuuuu and dad wont be back home for a while.

-4Free Man

Eastern Ukraine still in turmoil, Gaza will take 20 yrs to rebuild, Iran threatens to build nukes, US bombs Syria, ISIS gains stronghold in Iraq, Turkey trying to deal with thousands of refugees, Ebola is spreading in Africa. And oh, by the way, some idiot has turtles in his pants. Which of these is an important story to RT? A sad commentary on RT's judgement.


4 of 5 26/09/2014 3:52 PM

Smuggler Tries to Cross US-Canada Border With 51 Turtles in His Pants

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Transcript of Smuggler Tries to Cross US-Canada Border With 51 Turtles in His Pants