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Rhino horn smuggler gets long sentence

The mastermind of an international smuggling ring that trafficked in rhinoceros horns and elephant ivory was sentenced today to 70 months in federal prison, one of the longest terms ever imposed for a wildlife smuggling offense.

This image of a man with a chainsaw about to remove a black rhino horn was sent by email to defendant Li and the Long Island City 
Dealer on or about Dec. 22, 2010, offering fresh rhino horns for sale from Cameroon which they attempted to purchase.
This image of a man with a chainsaw about to remove a black rhino horn was sent by email to defendant Li and the Long Island City Dealer on or about Dec. 22, 2010, offering fresh rhino horns for sale from Cameroon which they attempted to purchase.Read moreU.S. Attorney District of New Jersey

The mastermind of an international smuggling ring that trafficked in rhinoceros horns and elephant ivory was sentenced today to 70 months in federal prison, one of the longest terms ever imposed for a wildlife smuggling offense, federal officials announced in New Jersey on Tuesday.

Zhifei Li, 30, was the owner of an antiques business in Shandong, China. In January 2013, federal agents arrested Li after he spent $59,000 to buy two endangered black rhino horns from an undercover officer at a Miami Beach hotel.

Li admitted to investigators that he was the "boss" of three dealers he hired to smuggle rare animal parts from the U.S. to China. Li admitted to smuggling 30 raw rhino horns worth approximately $3 million to Chinese factories. In China, the horns were carved into fake antique cups which were believed to bring good health.  The leftover pieces were used for alleged "medicinal purposes." Rhino horns traffic for about $17,500 per pound, according to a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney District of New Jersey.

According to court documents, Li had bought rhino horns from middlemen at various locations in New Jersey, among them the Vince Lombardi Rest Stop on the N.J. Turnpike.

"Wild populations of rhinos are being slaughtered at appalling rates due to the greed and indifference of criminals like Li and his accomplices," said U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Dan Ashe. "The sentence handed down today serves notice to other organized trafficking and poaching rings that their crimes will not go unpunished."

In addition to nearly six years in federal prison, Li was ordered to serve two years of supervised release and forfeit $3.5 million and several Asian artifacts.