Chinese man sentenced in US for smuggling rhino horns

The carcass of a rhino killed by poachers for its horn is pictured at the Kruger national park in South Africa's Mpumalanga province in this Sept 14, 2011 file photo. The number of rhinos killed by poachers has hit a new annual record in South Africa, raising worries of a downward population spiral in a country that is home to almost all of Africa's rhinos. [Photo/Agencies]

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NEWARK, New Jersey - An antiques dealer from China has been sentenced to nearly six years in US federal prison after admitting he was the mastermind of an international smuggling ring that specialized in rhinoceros horns and elephant ivory.

Speaking through an interpreter, Zhifei Li expressed remorse for his actions and asked to be reunited with his sick 4-year-old daughter in China before his sentencing Tuesday in US District court in Newark.

The 30-year-old pleaded guilty in December to 11 counts, including conspiracy, smuggling, illegal wildlife trafficking and making fake documents.

The US attorney's office says Li, operating through his business Overseas Treasure Finding, paid three antiques dealers in the United States to help him smuggle the items to China. Prosecutors say the 30 smuggled rhino horns plus other objects made from the horns and from elephant ivory were worth about $4.5 million.

The horns were allegedly shipped to Hong Kong and then Chinese mainland wrapped in duct tape and hidden in porcelain vases. All species of the rhinoceros are protected under US and international law, and international trade in rhino horns and elephant ivory has been regulated since the mid-1970s.

US Magistrate Esther Salas ordered Li to serve his sentence of five years and 10 months in the US before he faces deportation to his native Shandong province. He was also ordered to forfeit $3.5 million in proceeds from his admitted criminal activity.

Paul Fishman, the US attorney for the district of New Jersey, praised what he said was one of the longest sentences ever imposed in the US for a wildlife smuggling offense.

"The multibillion-dollar illegal wildlife market is supplied by animal poaching of unthinkable brutality and fed by those willing to profit from such cruelty," Fishman said in a statement.

Salas said she hoped the sentencing would send a strong message to would-be poachers and smugglers in order to "prevent the innocent slaughter of these magnificent creatures."

Li was arrested as part of "Operation Crash," a nationwide effort led by the US Fish and Wildlife Service and the Justice Department to prosecute those involved in the black market trade of rhinoceros horns and other protected species.