Woman gets prison, 35,000 yuan fine in smuggling case

A woman was sentenced to three years in prison and fined 35,000 yuan ($5,094) for smuggling antelope horns, a Beijing court announced after a trial on Wednesday.

The Beijing No 4 Intermediate People's Court said in its judgement that customs staff members at the Beijing Capital International Airport found 12 suspicious products carried by the defendant, surnamed Ma, who took a flight to the city from Russia on Jan 8.

After the check, the officers allowed Ma to leave, as they were not sure whether the products covered by black plastic bags were made from endangered animals, the court said.

Three months later, customs identified the products as being made of antelope horns and worth about 240,000 yuan, so they ordered Ma to be questioned. Ma pleaded guilty after being questioned, the court said.

"Ma's behavior is she committed the crime of smuggling precious animal products," said Rong Peng, the chief judge responsible for the case in court. "But considering that she voluntarily confessed to the offense, we gave her a lenient penalty."

Ma said during the trial on Wednesday that she never thought the smuggling would send her to prison.

"I knew carrying the products made of antelope horn back to the country is illegal, but I thought I might be just fined instead of getting criminal punishment," she added.

She told the judge that there is something wrong with her heart, so she wanted to buy some antelope horns to improve her physical condition.

The court is mainly charged with hearing criminal cases across the city related to smuggling, and since it was established in December 2014, it has adjudicated more than 10 such cases.