Chinese national sentenced to prison for smuggling reptiles in U.S. wildlife trafficking case

A Brooklyn, New York, resident has been sentenced to federal prison for illegally shipping hundreds of protected reptiles in a scheme that federal authorities said funneled wildlife into the international black market.

Wei Qiang Lin, a Chinese national living in Brooklyn, was sentenced on December 24, 2025, to two years in prison after a federal judge in Buffalo, New York found him guilty of trafficking reptiles in violation of U.S. wildlife laws. Law enforcement also fined Lin $2,339, the amount of cash found on him at the time of his arrest, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Lin shipped roughly 222 packages to Hong Kong between August 2023 and November 2024 containing an estimated 850 live turtles. 

The pancakes contained nearly all eastern box turtles and three-toed box turtles — which are protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) and U.S. law, according to court documents.

Prosecutors said Lin mislabeled the boxes as containing “plastic animal toys” and bound the animals inside socks to conceal them during shipment. 

In addition to turtles valued at about $1.4 million, Lin attempted to export other protected reptiles, including Abronia lizards and venomous green tree vipers and palm pit vipers, the Department of Justice said. 

Customs inspectors intercepted many of the packages before they left the United States and discovered the live animals inside, DOJ reported.

Officials said that seized turtles were transferred to the Buffalo Zoo, which established an assurance colony aimed at helping conserve species that might otherwise face pressures from illegal trade. 

The case was brought as part of Operation Terrapene, a multi-agency effort led by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to dismantle smuggling networks targeting turtles and other species. The investigation involved cooperation from Customs and Border Protection, the Postal Inspection Service, and Homeland Security Investigations, among others. 

Prosecutors from the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of New York handled the case.