N.J. man facing federal prison for narwhal tusk smuggling

BANGOR, Maine, Jan. 12 (UPI) -- A 61-year-old New Jersey man was sentenced to 33 months in federal prison for his role in a narwhal tusk smuggling ring that stretched from Canada to Tennessee, officials said.

A federal judge in Maine sentenced Andrew Zarauskas to the prison term for conspiracy, smuggling and money laundering in connection to the smuggling ring. Officials said Zarauskas and Jay Conrad, of Lakeland, Tenn. were in the pipeline that smuggled the tusks from the Canadian arctic into Maine.

"You should know, Mr. Zarauskas, that the narwhal are worth more to the rest of us alive than they are to you dead," U.S. District Judge John Woodcock said.

Narwhals are known as the unicorn of the sea because of their long, spiral-shaped ivory tusks. The whales are protected, and the tusks are illegal to import and sell in the United States.

Zarauskas was ordered to begin his sentence on April 10 to allow him time to address health problems and earn money to pay $7,500 in fines. Conrad pleaded guilty of illegal trafficking in January 2014.