The illegal importation of exotic animals into the United States is a growing problem that generates profits for smugglers that are second only to the importation of illicit drugs, said federal prosecutor Thomas Brady.

"It’s just to have a pet that no one else has. That’s what’s driving this market," he said.

However, Brady recommended a light sentence yesterday for a man who admitted trying to smuggle 42 live turtles and tortoises into the country from Japan in a suitcase last year.

Brady said Hiroki Uetsuki, 36, gave investigators information that led to the capture this month of two men in Los Angeles who are accused of running an illegal animal-smuggling operation.

His lawyer, Shanlyn Park, said Uetsuki, a Japanese national, only agreed to smuggle the reptiles because he was having financial difficulties. "He didn’t even know how the turtles were packaged," Park said.

Brady said the animals, 20 fly river turtles, two white-fronted box turtles and 20 Burmese star tortoises, were in three containers with temperature- and moisture-control devices in the suitcase.

U.S. District Chief Judge Susan Oki Mollway said yesterday she intended to sentence Uetsuki this morning to the jail time he has served from his arrest Aug. 30 at Honolulu Airport to his release 10 days later to a halfway house.

Mollway postponed Uetsuki’s sentencing until today to let him spend another night in the halfway house before his flight back to Japan this afternoon.