THE wife of a former Caerphilly-based doctor has been found guilty of smuggling banned rhino horn into Wales.

Sun Liu, 51, was also caught with bear bile and prohibited plant extracts used in Chinese medicines as she passed through customs at Cardiff Airport in July 2012.

It took a jury at Newport Crown Court today an hour or so to find Liu guilty on three counts of importing prohibited goods.

Liu was living with her husband Xiao Guang Gao above the Chinese Herbal Centre in Cardiff Road, Caerphilly, at the time of the offences.

The Crown Prosecution Service said she tried to smuggle the ground rhino horn because she "feared it could be intercepted" if it was shipped by mail order.

Liu, who now lives in Haydons Road, Wimbledon, southwest London, denied all the charges against her.

She said she did not know that boxes of medicines she had brought back from China for her husband contained banned ingredients.

Liu, speaking through an interpreter, said: "I didn't hide them among the medicines because I didn't know they were prohibited."

Jeffrey Jones, for the prosecution, read extracts from statements which suggested she had told customs she had nothing to declare.

Liu told the jury she had difficulty communicating in English and indicated there may have been misunderstandings with the custom officers.

But Mr Jones alleged that she was trying to make out she was “simple-minded” and added she was being “dishonest”.

The court heard how Liu had 20 years of experience working as a nurse in her native China, but she insisted on having a limited knowledge of medicine and their contents.

She claimed she used some of the medicine for her own use, including her high blood pressure, after being given directions by a doctor in China.

Giving evidence her husband told Newport Crown Court she did not have any medical knowledge and only acted as a receptionist at the Caerphilly medical centre.

On Friday, Mr Gao told the jury: "She helps me with my life. She does the cooking.

"The only thing she can do is press the bell."

But sentencing Liu this afternoon, Mr Recorder Jonathan Ferris said: "[T]he offences are serious in this country and the protection of endangered species is an important aim."

He said he was satisfied that Liu had intended to use the medicine for "personal use" and not for commercial re-sale.

He took into account her "good character" and the fact she had no previous convictions, before fining her a total of £3,750.