A Canadian accused of selling 240 million year-old Chinese fossils on the internet appeared in a Shanghai court Thursday, facing up to five years in jail.

Along with his Chinese wife, Wei Muhong, Barre Pascal allegedly attempted to send a package of eight keichousaurus fossils by express mail to a collector in the US on November 6, prosecutors told the Shanghai No 1 Intermediate People's Procuratorate.

Pascal and Wei were apprehended after customs officers received a tip-off about their illegal activities, said prosecutor Zhang Junying.

In September, Shanghai Customs were notified by the Anti-Smuggling Bureau from Shenyang Customs in northeast China's Liaoning Province.

A gang from northern China smuggling fossils - strictly protected by antiquity protection law - was seen selling their wares in Shanghai and other eastern cities. Three gang members, Yu Lichun, Zhu Xiaogang and Yao Cheng, ran an antiques shop in Shanghai and were monitored by customs officials.

Pascal and Wei were arrested after they were seen visiting the shop on Duolun Road and taking away the fossils.

They posted the items for sale on the internet and, when a US collector agreed to buy them, Wei asked her brother, Wei Heping, to mail them out of the country.

Investigators later found that the couple received US$2,090 from an American identified only as David, for the eight fossils.

Further probes revealed the pair had started purchasing and selling fossils on the internet in 2003.

Testimonies by Yu and Zhu revealed the gang had purchased - after requests from the couple - keichousaurus fossils and fossilized dinosaur eggs from antiquities markets in Guilin, in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

Another five of the couple's regular customers, one from the UK and four from the US, were later identified. "But because of obvious difficulties, we won't take any legal action against the buyers," the prosecutor said.

He said it is difficult to calculate how much Pascal and Wei have earned from their illegal business as some of the fossils they sold were fake. Many, however, were genuine, according to the suspects' statement.

Wei Muhong had several bank accounts containing over 150,000 yuan (US$18,138). US$16,000 has been seized by the courts.

Expecting to give birth this month, Wei did not appear in court yesterday. Zhang said she will be sentenced after she gives birth.

Pascal claimed in court that although it was wrong of him to not try and stop his wife from smuggling, he was never part of the business.

Xu Qing, Pascal's lawyer, also argued the fossils could not be counted as antiquities. "There is no clear legal interpretation spelling out that ancient animal fossils are antiquities," he argued.

(China Daily May 13, 2005)