Four smugglers of pangolin scales jailed
The People’s Court of Hanoi on July 12 sentenced three women and one man to a total 18 years in prison for illegally transporting and trading 984kg of pangolin scales, one of the largest cases of wildlife trafficking detected so far in Vietnam.
The instigator in the case, Nguyen Thi Chinh from Vinh Phuc province, got seven years, while Hoang Thi Hien Phuong from Hanoi was jailed for five years for her role as a broker. Nguyen Van Su from Vinh Phuc was sentenced to two years in prison for illegally transporting the scales, and accomplice Nguyen Thi Ha also from Vinh Phuc got four years.
Pangolin is a protected wild animal due to increasing demand for its meat and scales in Vietnam and China. Some pangolin species have been listed in the red book by the International Union for Conservation of Nature as endangered species.
Vietnamese laws prohibit the hunting, killing, caging, trading or transport of wild animals.
