In 2017, Irish citizen Michael Hegarty received an 18-month prison sentence in the US followed by three years of supervised release for his role in a wildlife trafficking operation. Hegarty facilitated the illegal transportation and concealment of a libation cup carved from endangered rhinoceros horn from the US to the UK. In many jurisdictions, it is legal to trade wildlife products such as ivory domestically if they were acquired prior to the introduction of CITES regulations – but not to traffic them internationally. The illegal activity began in mid-April 2012, when Hegarty and an accomplice travelled with a Miami resident to a North Carolina auction. A second accomplice served as their bidder and successfully purchased a rhinoceros horn libation cup. After the cup was delivered to Hegarty and his first accomplice in Florida, the accomplice smuggled it out of the United States in his personal luggage. British authorities later arrested the accomplice and two other Irish nationals in London as they attempted to sell the cup to a buyer from Hong Kong SAR. Hegarty was subsequently apprehended through an INTERPOL Red Notice and extradited from Belgium to the US. His accomplice, currently serving time in England on separate charges, will face additional wildlife trafficking charges in Florida upon release.