Lagos Court Jails Vietnamese For Trafficking In Pangolin Scales

A Federal High Court sitting in Lagos has sentenced a Vietnamese, Nguyen Huy, to three months in a custodial centre for trafficking in Pangolin scale.

This judgement was delivered after Huy pleaded guilty to two charges brought against him by the Nigeria Customs Service.

He was alleged to have been involved in the trafficking of about 200 kilograms of pangolin scales.

Justice Daniel Osiagor sentenced Huy to three months imprisonment on each of two counts preferred against him by the Customs.

The sentence would run concurrently and commence from May 9, 2022, when Huy was arrested in Lagos.

Justice Osiagor gave the judgment following Huy’s ‘guilty’ plea to the charge and an allocutus by his counsel, Okey Mgbobukwa, praying the court to temper justice with mercy.

The Vietnamese citizen was dragged before the judge following his arrest by the NCS and Wildlife Justice Commission in a joint wildlife enforcement operation targeting illegal wildlife traffickers of Pangolin scales from Africa to Asia.

On his part, the prosecution counsel, Onyeka Ohakwe, informed the court that Huy and some of his compatriots, said to be on the run, were found in unlawful possession of the 200 kilograms of pangolin scales on May 9, 2022, at a restaurant in Marina, Lagos.

She informed the court that the offence contravened Sections 64 and 166 of the Customs and Excise Management Act, 2004, as well as Section 5(1) of the Endangered Species (Control of International Trade and Traffic) Act, 2004.