Beijing court handled 77 cases of smuggling animal products

Beijing No 4 Intermediate People's Court said on Thursday that it concluded 77 cases of smuggling precious animal products from the beginning of 2015 to June this year, with about 40 percent of defendants given prison terms of three or more years.

The products were found to be frequently made of ivory, rhino horn, pangolin pieces, hawksbill turtle, brown bear gall and wolf teeth, Wang Jing, vice-president of the court, told a news conference.

"Most of the defendants were migrant workers, students and tourists coming back to China," Wang said. "Some aimed to sell the products for profits or send to friends and family members as gifts, while wanted to use them to help with diseases."

He explained that some of the defendants received heavier penalties, such as a long-term imprisonment and a high fine, because the animal parts they smuggled were from animals listed on the national key protection of wildlife or related to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.

For example, a defendant surnamed Yan was sentenced to 10 years in prison, along with 200,000 yuan ($27,968) in fines, for smuggling 393 fish bladder products, the court said.

Yan was captured while arriving at the Beijing Capital International Airport from Mexico on March 21, 2018, and the suspected products were discovered by the custom staff members in Yan's luggage, it said.

The products were later identified as being made of drum fish in Gulf of California, and the fish is listed on the CITES, it said, adding that the products were worth of about 2.51 million yuan ($351,000), it added.

To effectively fight the crime, the court has issued a guideline on the smuggling of precious animal products to help judges accurately apply laws and unify the standards of relevant case hearing.

On Thursday, the court also disclosed four other smuggling cases, showing its determination and effort to protect precious animals by rule of law.