A Chinese national pleaded guilty in a Vermont federal court on Friday to a single count of attempting to export merchandise contrary to law, after her June arrest in which she was caught kayaking into Canada with a duffle bag full of live box turtles, VTDigger reports.

An August Justice Department press release describes 41 year-old Wan Yee Ng as having come “to the attention of the United States Border Patrol at the Beecher Falls Station in Canaan, Vermont, after repeatedly renting the same Vermont residence on Lake Wallace, an international body of water that has been used for human and narcotic smuggling. The US Border Patrol also discerned that Ng’s husband was renting a separate property on the lake in Canada at the same time.”

“On the morning of June 26, 2024, agents observed Ng begin to prepare an inflatable kayak near the water’s edge and carry a duffle bag from the rented residence to the kayak. During this time the Royal Canadian Mounted Police notified agents that two individuals, one of which was believed to be Ng’s spouse, had launched an inflatable watercraft on the Canadian side of Lake Wallace and began to paddle south toward the United States. Before she could leave the shore, agents intercepted Ng and detained her for suspected smuggling activity. Agents then observed, through a partially opened zipper on the duffle bag, what appeared to be socks that were moving. Further inspection revealed the bag contained 29 turtles that were individually wrapped in socks to protect their shells and so they could not move. The turtles were preliminarily identified by a United States Fish and Wildlife Special Agent as eastern box turtles,” the press release continued, not quite explaining why such an elaborate scheme was necessary to smuggle freaking live turtles into Canada.