Swapping pangolins for… 'frozen meat' to evade authorities.
(Baonghean.vn) - To deceive law enforcement and cargo trucks, Nguyen Thi Thuy (Ha Tinh) falsely claimed that two bags containing 11 pangolin carcasses were "frozen meat" that needed to be sent to family members.
On September 24th, the People's Court of Nghe An province brought defendant Nguyen Thi Thuy (born in 1974), residing in Tay Son town, Huong Son district, Ha Tinh province, to trial for the crime of "Violating regulations on the protection of endangered and rare animals".
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| Defendant Nguyen Thi Thuy at the trial. Photo: An Quynh |
According to the indictment, at approximately 11:00 AM on March 30, 2019, Nguyen Thi Thuy was sitting in her house when a Lao couple on a motorbike passed by and asked, "Do you want to buy pangolins?" Because she had a customer who had placed an order beforehand, Thuy, after considering the offer, immediately agreed to buy 11 Javan pangolins for 175 million VND.
After purchasing the goods, Thuy immediately called Nguyen Dinh Cam (born in 1975), residing in Ben Thuy ward, Vinh City, a bus driver who regularly operates the Huong Son - Vinh City route, to ask him to transport the goods to a customer in Vinh to resell them for 184 million VND.
Fearing that the long-distance transport would be discovered, after purchasing the pangolins, the defendant sealed them in bags and put ice bottles inside, both to cool them and to conceal the goods, while also making the bus driver think it was frozen meat.
Upon receiving the package, Mr. Nguyen Dinh Cam asked, "What is this?" Ms. Thuy simply replied that it was frozen meat that needed to be urgently delivered to a customer in Vinh, and instructed him to call the number provided on the package upon arrival.
While Cam's vehicle was stopped in Vinh City to deliver the two bags of snake carcasses to a customer at the address requested by Thuy, he was spotted and caught red-handed by law enforcement.
Upon examination, the seized items included: 11 Javan pangolins weighing 58.3 kg, listed in Appendix 1 (List of endangered and rare species prioritized for protection), issued with Government Decree 160/2013.
At the trial, the defendant confessed honestly, admitting that due to his low level of education, he was unaware of the prohibited animal trade. After considering aggravating and mitigating circumstances, the court decided to sentence the defendant to 5 years in prison for the crime of "Violating regulations on the protection of endangered and rare animals." As for Mr. Nguyen Dinh Cam, since he was unaware that the goods were rare animals when he accepted the shipment, his guilt was not considered.
