Big game hunter, 49, is arrested for trying to smuggle EIGHT rare animal carcasses – including long-horned sheep – through San Francisco airport after ‘$50,000 Pakistan shooting trip’
- Jason Keith Bruce is facing 25 years behind bars after allegedly attempting to transport endangered animal carcasses into the US
- The 49-year-old was arrested alongside a Pakistani conspirator after authorities uncovered a wide-ranging animal smuggling scheme
- One of the carcasses was an endangered Ladakh urial sheep, and Bruce was said to have been cautioned there were only 180 in the region before the hunt
A big game hunter has been arrested after allegedly smuggling eight rare animal carcasses in his luggage through San Francisco International Airport.
Jason Keith Bruce, 49, is facing up to 25 years behind bars after he was snared for attempting to use forged government documents to transport several high-value corpses into the country, including an endangered Ladakh urial sheep, federal prosecutors said.
Bruce, of Sacramento County, California, was charged alongside Pakistani hunting expert Pir Danish Ali, 43, for the alleged crimes following a hunting trip to Pakistan in 2018, with both men facing significant jail time and thousands in fines if convicted.
An investigation was later launched by the US Fish and Wildlife Service’s Office of Law Enforcement, which reportedly uncovered a wide-ranging smuggling ring perpetrated by Ali’s company to sneak animal carcasses through airports.
Jason Keith Bruce, 49, pictured with one of his big game hunting trophies, is facing up to 25 years in prison after allegedly attempting to smuggle endangered species
The hunter allegedly paid $50,000 to Ali to help him kill the endangered long-horned sheep, before planning to ship the animal’s body back to the US by forging Pakistani official documents and labelling the carcass as from a different species.
At least 25 hunters allegedly used this tactic through Ali’s company, where falsified papers were used to smuggle upwards of 97 carcasses into the US between 2013 and 2018.
Bruce is facing severe penalties after targeting the Ladakh urial sheep, which is typically found in the western central Asia region and listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List.
The population of the sheep has declined significantly in recent years, and according to indictment documents, Bruce was reportedly warned by Pir before their hunt that just 180 of the sheep had been logged in the area at the time.
But the scarcity seemingly attracted the big game hunter to bag an elusive trophy, with Bruce enlisting Ali’s services as far back as 2016 to begin plotting how to sneak the animal into the US, the Fish and Wildlife Service’s investigation revealed.
Ali, the CEO of a hunting outfitter and guide company based in Pakistan, agreed to export the Ladakh urial as a trophy through both fraud and bribery, the Justice Department said in a news release.
After Bruce was caught with the rare species’ carcass when he flew into San Francisco International Airport in March 2018, both he and Ali allegedly conspired to lie about the origins of the animal, the release alleges.
The discovery also led to a further investigation that uncovered Ali’s expansive animal smuggling ring, prosecutors say.
Bruce, right, is accused of conspiring to falsify government records to bring an endangered big game trophy into the US
The Californian, center right, is accused of paying $50,000 to a Pakistani hunting expert for a lucrative hunting trip in 2018
After the big game hunter was caught sneaking an endangered Ladakh urial sheep through San Francisco International Airport in 2018, an investigation uncovered a wide-ranging animal smuggling ring
Bruce and Ali were indicted by a federal grand jury on March 23 for the plot, with the hunter arrested the following day.
Both men are facing a five-year prison sentence and $250,000 if convicted of charges of conspiracy to violate the Endangered Species Act, to make false statements, and to smuggle goods into the United States.
Californian Bruce is also facing an additional 21-year-sentence and a total of $300,000 in fines if convicted of smuggling and Endangered Species Act violations.
