BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS
A Chinese national was arraigned Monday for allegedly conspiring to illegally smuggle $700,000 worth of wildlife items including rhinoceros horn, elephant ivory and coral, officials announced today.
Guan Zong Chen, aka Graham Chen, was arrested last year when he traveled from China to Australia.
Chen is presumed innocent unless proven guilty.
According to the eight-count indictment, Chen purchased the wildlife artifacts at U.S. auction houses located in California, Florida, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and Texas.
He conspired with another Chinese national, a recent college graduate in China to travel to the United States to pick up the purchased items and either hand carry or arrange for them to be mailed to another co-conspirator that owned a shipping business in Concord, Massachusetts.
The shipper then repacked the wildlife items and exported (smuggled) them to Hong Kong with documents that falsely stated their contents and value and without obtaining required declarations and permits.
In April 2014, Chen visited the U.S. and visited the shipper in Concord, Massachusetts.
During the visit with the shipper, Chen instructed the shipper to smuggle a sculpture made from elephant ivory to Hong Kong on Chen’s behalf and falsely declared it to be made of wood and worth $50.
Officials stated that trade in rhinoceros horn, elephant ivory and coral have been regulated since 1976 under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora or CITES, a treaty signed by over 175 countries around the world to protect fish, wildlife, and plants that are or may become imperiled due to the demands of international markets.
Animals listed under CITES cannot be exported from the U.S. without prior notification to, and approval from, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service.