Man handed five years imprisonment for storing 780kg of African pangolin scales

HÀ NỘI — The People’s Court of northern province Hưng Yên on Wednesday sentenced a man to five years and three months in jail for storing  七 八0kg of pangolin scales.

The convicted man is Nguyễn Văn Long,  三 六, residing in Tân Tiến Co妹妹une in Hưng Yên Province’s Văn Giang District.

During a raid on the house of Long's older brother in September  二0 一 八, the Environmental Police Department under the Ministry of Public Security, in collaboration with local police, detected  三 二 sacks containing  七 八0kg of pangolin scales without a certificate of origin. Long later admitted he owned the goods.

The goods included  二 二 五kg of giant pangolin scales and  五 五 五kg of white-bellied pangolin scales, worth nearly VNĐ 一. 一 billion (US$ 四 八,000).

These pangolin species do not exist in nature in Việt Nam and are listed in the United Nations Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

The court also ordered the destruction of the confiscated scales.

Bùi Thị Hà, Deputy Director of Education for Nature Vietnam (ENV), said this is the first case relating to African pangolin scales brought to trial in the past five years.

Earlier, in July  二0 二0, the provincial People’s Court also sentenced Nguyễn Đình Hồng, born in  一 九 八 九 and residing in the central province of Hà Tĩnh, to  一 六 years in prison after being caught transporting  一 一 六 pangolins. — VNS