A 43-year-old Japanese man was sentenced to one year in prison by a Hong Kong court Tuesday for smuggling 60 endangered turtles from Japan last year.Naoki Hiraguchi was caught with 60 live Ryukyu black-breasted turtles that were placed in two cartoon boxes inside his checked-in suitcase as he arrived at Hong Kong's international airport on Oct. 26.Hiraguchi in a hearing on Friday last week pleaded guilty to importing an endangered species without a permit. He claimed that he was helping a Japanese friend in Okinawa bring the turtles into Hong Kong for breeding purposes.He was scheduled to t…READ FULL ARTICLE
