KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian wildlife smuggler Teo Boon Ching has been sentenced to 18 months' jail in the United States for conspiring to traffic hundreds of kilogrammes of rhinoceros horns worth millions that involved the illegal poaching of various species of the animal.
A statement from the US Attorney's Office on Tuesday said the sentence was imposed by the US District Judge Paul A. Crotty.
Teo was described as going by the names Zhang, Dato Sri, and Godfather. He was extradited from Thailand and is the sixth large-scale wildlife trafficker sentenced in cases brought to the department.
The office said documents and statements filed in the case and in the court proceedings had described Teo as a member of a transnational criminal conspiracy engaged in the large-scale international trafficking and smuggling of rhinoceros horns to sell to foreign buyers, including buyers represented to be in Manhattan, New York.
He was said to have transported, distributed, sold and smuggled at least 219 kg of rhinoceros horns resulting from the poaching of various rhinoceros, with an estimated value of at least US$2.1 million.
"On a number of occasions, Teo met with a confidential source to negotiate the sale of rhinoceros horns.
"For example, on July 17 and 18, 2019, the confidential source met with Teo in Malaysia. During those meetings, Teo stated that he served as a 'middleman' - one who acquires rhinoceros horns poached by co-conspirators in Africa and ships them to customers around the world for a per-kg fee."
The office also said Teo had promised the confidential source that he would be able to hand over the goods "as long as you have cash".
Teo had also sent the source numerous photographs of rhinoceros horns that he had available for sale and shipment.
In August 2019, the source, at the direction of law enforcement, purchased 12 rhinoceros horns from Teo, which was delivered in a suitcase in Thailand by those working for the wildlife trafficking organisation.
Upon examination, the US Fish and Wildlife Service forensics laboratory concluded that the two horn pieces were black rhinoceros horns, and other 10 pieces were white rhinoceros horns.
Teo and his associated entities were previously sanctioned by the US Treasury Department Office of Foreign Assets Control.
"Wildlife trafficking is a serious threat to the natural resources and the ecological heritage shared by communities across the globe, enriching poachers responsible for the senseless illegal slaughter of numerous endangered rhinoceros and furthering the market for these illicit products.
"The substantial sentence shows the resolve of this office to use every tool at our disposal to ensure the protection of endangered species," said US attorney Damian Williams, as quoted in the statement.
Teo was arrested in Thailand on June 29 last year, and was extradited to the US under the bilateral extradition treaty involving both nations on Oct 7, 2022.