Woman gets 11 months after admitting she smuggled otter fur from abroad

A Beijing court sentenced a woman to 11 months in prison for smuggling otter fur, as part of efforts to strengthen wildlife protection by punishing offenders.

Feng Meng, 33, was also fined 10,000 yuan ($1,400), according to the ruling announced by the Beijing No 4 Intermediate People's Court.

On March 6, Feng, a native of Jilin province, arrived at the Beijing Daxing International Airport on a flight from Russia and was checked by the customs staff when she passed through the nondeclaration channel.

"She entered the country without declaring any goods, but with several bags and a pet cat in her arms," prosecutors cited the testimony of the customs staff members as saying. "She also looked panicked and walked faster than others, which caught our attention."

Then, the customs officials screened her baggage and seized 46 pieces of suspected animal fur at the bottom of her bags. After identifying the seized items as the fur of otters, which are second-class national protected animals, Feng was detained on suspicion of smuggling precious wildlife products on March 13.

It was later determined that the items had a combined value of 330,000 yuan.

During the trial on Monday, Feng pleaded guilty to the offense, saying that a Russian asked her to bring the fur products to China and told her someone would contact her when she returned home.

"But no one came to me, and I didn't get any money from the Russian," she added, choking up. "I knew it would be wrong to carry wild animal products from abroad, but at that time I was not aware of the law and didn't realize the consequence could be as serious as a crime."

The court said that Feng's actions constituted the crime of smuggling precious wildlife products. However, considering that she confessed to the crime and the smuggled items have already been seized, it leniently punished her.

In September, the court also sentenced a defendant surnamed Sun to three years and three months in prison and fined him 100,000 yuan for bringing more than 300 dried seahorses and over 20 shark fins for consumption into China after returning from working abroad.

The smuggled products, made from four endangered wild animal species, were worth more than 400,000 yuan, the court said, adding that Sun knowingly committed the crime because his employer and colleagues had reminded him what items were forbidden to bring home before he went abroad and when he was ready to return.

"Imposing severe punishments against people who harm rare and endangered animals and plants has always been an important job for us," the court said, emphasizing that it has stepped up efforts in handling related cases to intensify environmental conservation and wildlife protection.

Data released by the court showed that from the beginning of 2015 to June last year, it concluded 77 cases concerning the smuggling of precious wildlife products, mainly involving ivory, rhino horns, pangolin scales, brown bear bile and wolf teeth.

The smugglers were mostly migrant workers, overseas students and tourists. Many brought the banned items home in suitcases with the aim to sell them on the domestic market, give them as gifts to friends and families, or use them as remedies for illnesses, it added.