QuangNinh (VNA) – A group of people keeping pangolins illegally were recently caught red-handed by the policeof the northeastern border province of Quang Ninh and the Criminal Police Departmentunder the Ministry of Public Security in the province’s Mong Cai city.
OnSeptember 6, the police discovered 77 pangolins were being kept in a storagehouse of Pham Van Tuan in Cau Voi village, Van Ninh commune of the city. Thepangolins totally weigh 301.88 kilogrammes.
After anexpanded search, authorities found additional 47 pangolins, weighting 224.5kg,along with 7kg of pangolin scale.
Inaddition, they seized six cars and 10 motorbikes at the scene.
The caseis being further investigated.
Pangolins are the most trafficked animal in the world. Vietnam is hometo two pangolin species, the Sunda Pangolin (Manis javanica) and ChinesePangolin (Manis pentadactyla), both listed as Critically Endangered on theInternational Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)’s Red List, and are nearextinction.
In Vietnam, all illegal hunting, trading, poaching and transportation ofeven a single pangolin will be punished with one to five years’ imprisonment, afine of between 500 million VND (22,000 USD) and 2 billion VND under a lawwhich came into effect from January 1, 2018.-VNA