Fifty more of these little guys were taped to his legs. Photo: AP
Kai Xu, 27, was busted at a border crossing recently after feds noticed irregular bulges in his sweat pants. Turns out he had taped 51 turtles to his body and was attempting to smuggle the reptiles out of southeastern Michigan.
Agents say Xu has attempted to smuggle more than 1,000 turtles and pleaded guilty to six crimes and now faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison. Xu would order turtles online, travel from Canada to the USA to pick them up, and then ship them to China or bring them back to Canada.
Some of the pond turtles Xu tried to smuggle across the Canadian border. Photo: US Attorney’s Office
Assistant Sara Woodward said in a court filing, Xu “regularly deals in turtle shipments worth $30,000, $80,000 or $125,000, because in China, the turtles are worth two to three times the amount he pays here.”
The investigation started after a courier company in Detroit tipped the wildlife service to a package shipped from Alabama to Xu. Agents watched as Xu allegedly opened various boxes in the rear of his SUV, took out plastic containers containing North American pond turtles and placed them into plastic baggies and using packaging tape and scissors, taped the turtles to his body. Agents noticed irregular bulges under Xu’s sweatpants on both his legs and arrested him at the border.
The turtles are valued at about $1,300 to $1,500 apiece due to their high demand in Asian food and collector markets.
