Man jailed for 1 year in Hong Kong for importing HK$620,000 worth of endangered shark fins illegally
Hong Kong Free Press
A 36-year-old man has been jailed for a year after he pleaded guilty to illegally importing endangered shark fins valued at around HK$620,000 from Brazil to Hong Kong.
Lin Yufeng appeared before Deputy District Judge Veronica Heung for sentencing on Wednesday, after the mainland Chinese national admitted to charges of illegally importing an endangered species.
According to the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department (AFCD), Lin arrived in Hong Kong from Brazil via Ethiopia on November 24, 2023. He was intercepted by customs officers before AFCD personnel checked his 15 pieces of checked-in baggage, where dried fins regulated under the Protection of Endangered Species of Animals and Plants Ordinance were found.
The dried fins weighed more than 450 kilograms, of which 113 kilograms came from silky sharks and hammerhead sharks. The two species are listed in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). The multilateral treaty that came into force in 1975 aims to ensure that global wild animal and plant trade does not threaten species’ survival.
Lin did not possess a valid CITES permit or certificate that would have authorised the trade.
The rest of the seized fins also contained those from CITES-listed species, but they were not regulated under the international treaty or Hong Kong laws at the time of the offence.
Local media reported on Wednesday that Lin’s lawyer said his client went to Brazil for work in 2012. Lin was asked by a friend to take the dried fins to Hong Kong and told that someone would wait for him in the arrival hall. The friend had sent a shark fin import certificate to Lin, the lawyer said.
Lin was not paid and had committed the offence because he had mistakenly trusted his friend, the defence pleaded.
The judge adopted 18 months of imprisonment as the starting point of sentence. She gave Lin a one-third reduction for his guilty plea and sentenced him to one year behind bars. The court also approved AFCD’s request for the fins to be forfeited.
The AFCD said on Wednesday that more shark species had been added to the regulated list under the ordinance since last December to reflect the latest CITES regulations. Crime syndicates had recently attempted to use invalid documents, as well as mix unregulated specimens with scheduled ones to make detection more difficult, the department said.
“The AFCD will continue to work closely with Customs to combat illegal activities involving endangered species,” the AFCD said in a statement.
Hong Kong is one of the largest shark fin trade hubs in the world, with shark fin soup often served at Chinese banquets. Last October, requiem shark and the hammerhead shark families were added to the city’s list of endangered species.
Hong Kong’s endangered species protection law stipulates that species listed in the CITES Appendix II are regulated. Unless exempted or otherwise specified, the import, export, re-export, introduction from the sea, or possession of scheduled species, including their parts and derivatives, are subject to control under a licensing system.
Those who fail to comply face a maximum fine of HK$10 million and up to 10 years in prison if convicted, while specimens will also be forfeited.
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