Woman pleads guilty to smuggling elephant parts, dead birds

A St. Paul woman has pleaded guilty to smuggling parts of an Asian elephant and several dead birds into the United States, authorities said Thursday.

Seng Her, 56, was stopped at the Twin Cities Airport on Nov. 28, 2007. Authorities found Her, who was coming from Laos, with parts of an Asian elephant, which is an endangered species. Her has admitted to smuggling the elephant parts and several dead exotic birds.

It's illegal to carry parts of endangered species and certain other dead animal parts into the U.S. without proper permits. Authorities said the species Her was smuggling would not have even qualified for permits.

Her was indicted in December. It took two years for her to be charged because investigators had to send the elephant parts to a lab that could analyze the DNA to confirm it was an Asian elephant.