TACOMA, Wash. (AP) — A Brinnon, Washington man was sentenced to six months in prison and fined $25,000 for trafficking ivory from protected species.
U.S. Attorney Annette Hayes says David L. Boone took part in an operation between 2006 and 2008 that smuggled narwhal tusks from Canada into the U.S.
Narwhals are Arctic whales that are often called the “Unicorn of the Sea” because of their prominent tusk.
Hayes says Boone sold the tusks on the black market at a huge profit.
Hayes says Boone, who operates Boone Trading Company, also trafficked in sperm whale teeth and walrus tusks in 2011.
The Canadian exporter of the narwhal tusks pleaded guilty to money laundering and was sentenced Wednesday in federal court in Maine to more than five years in prison.
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