Driver sentenced to more than 10 years in prison for illegally transporting hundreds of wild animals

On April 25, Nghe An Provincial People's Court opened an appeal trial of defendant Chao A Lai (born in 1992), residing in Khanh Xuan commune, Bao Lac district (Cao Bang province) for the crimes of "Violating regulations on the protection of endangered, precious and rare animals" and "Violating regulations on the protection of wild animals".

According to the case file, at 7:30 p.m. on April 15, 2024, while performing a patrol mission and controlling vehicles on Dung Quyet Street, Vinh City (Nghe An), the patrol and control team of the Traffic Police - Order Team, Vinh City Police discovered a car driven by Chao A Lai from the South to the North, showing suspicious signs, so they signaled to stop and check the vehicle.

Upon inspection, the authorities discovered 21 cargo boxes containing 416 live rare wild animals such as parrots, porcupines, sloths, kangaroos, civets, turtles, monkeys, pythons, snakes, etc. The total value of the rare wild animals was nearly 800 million VND.

Working with the authorities, Chao A Lai could not present any documents proving the origin of these wild animals. The subject confessed that he had hired a stranger to transport the above wild animals from Ha Tinh province to Ha Nam to receive 15 million VND as a fee.

The court of first instance sentenced defendant Chao A Lai to 10 years in prison for “Violating regulations on the protection of endangered, precious and rare animals”; and 9 months in prison for “Violating regulations on the protection of wild animals”. The total sentence the defendant must serve is 10 years and 9 months in prison.

The defendant then filed an appeal for a reduction in sentence. At the appeal hearing, the defendant did not present any new details compared to the first instance court.

The defendant and his defense attorney presented his difficult family circumstances, his ethnic minority status, and limited legal awareness; when the authorities discovered the animals, they were not dead yet, so they asked the court to consider reducing the sentence.

The panel of judges determined that the defendant's actions were dangerous to society, violated state regulations on environmental protection, protection of ecological balance, and biodiversity of rare and precious wild animals in the ecological environment, and negatively affected local order and safety.

At this trial, the defendant did not provide any new information compared to the first instance judgment, therefore, the appellate court rejected the defendant's appeal. Sentenced defendant Chao A Lai to 10 years and 9 months in prison for 2 crimes.