Woman tried to smuggle 29 turtles wrapped in socks into Canada by kayak

The 41-year-old faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000 after pleading guilty

A woman attempted to smuggle 29 turtles across a Vermont lake into Canada by kayak.
Wan Yee Ng, 41, was arrested on the morning of June 28 at an Airbnb in Canaan as she was about to get into an inflatable kayak with a duffle bag on Lake Wallace, according to a Border Patrol agent’s affidavit filed in federal court.
Agents had been notified by Royal Canadian Mounted Police that two other people, including a man who was believed to be her husband, had started to paddle an inflatable watercraft from the Canadian side of the lake toward the United States, according to court documents.
The agents searched her duffle bag and found 29 live eastern box turtles individually wrapped in socks, the affidavit stated.
Eastern box turtles are known to be sold on the Chinese black market for $1,000 each, the affidavit stated.
Her cell phone was seized, and a search by law enforcement found communications showing that she tried to smuggle the turtles into Canada so that they could eventually be sold for a profit in Hong Kong, according to the plea agreement.
Ng, from Hong Kong, was living in Canada.
She pleaded guilty on Friday to one count of unlawfully attempting to export and send 29 eastern box turtles out of the US, contrary to law. VTDigger first reported on the plea deal.
She is scheduled to be sentenced in December and faces up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.