Alleged smuggler of ivory, whale bone faces charges
Federal authorities arrested and charged a man Thursday with smuggling whale bone and elephant and walrus ivory into the United States after a raid on an Iwilei warehouse.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Kevin S.C. Chang on Friday granted Sergio Traya Biscocho Jr.’s release on $100,000 bond. While on release, Biscocho will be in the custody of his brother, and the court will electronically monitor whether Biscocho complies with his release restrictions while staying at his brother’s Hawaii Kai home. Biscocho also had to turn in his Philippine passport.
The government had asked Chang to deny Biscocho the chance for release.
Smuggling goods into the U.S. is a crime punishable by up to 20 years in prison. The U.S. Endangered Species Act and Marine Mammal Protection Act restricts or prohibits the trafficking of whale bone and elephant and walrus ivory.
In an affidavit attached to the criminal complaint, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service said its wildlife inspectors intercepted five FedEx parcels between October and February that contained undeclared whale bone and elephant and walrus ivory carvings. The parcels were shipped to Honolulu retailer Hawaiian Accessories Inc. from Biscocho’s carving business in the Philippines, the affidavit said.
On Wednesday, Fish & Wildlife Service inspectors, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration officials as well as law enforcement and Homeland Security Investigations officers executed a search warrant at Hawaiian Accessories’ Nimitz Highway warehouse, the affidavit said.
The Fish & Wildlife Service said in the affidavit that Biscocho was at the warehouse and told authorities that his Philippine business supplies products only to Hawaiian Accessories but that ivory products did not come from the business.
According to the affidavit, Biscocho’s brother, who was also at the warehouse, told agents that he sends ivory, hidden among piles of koa wood, to the Philippines from Hawaiian Accessories. The affidavit said he said Sergio Traya Biscocho Jr. carves the ivory and sends the finished products back to Hawaiian Accessories.
