Two Sentenced to Eight Years in Vietnam Pangolin Trafficking Case
Court in Bac Ninh province convicts two traffickers for selling 46 bags of scales from African pangolin species in sting operation
Quick Look
- A Vietnamese court has sentenced two men to eight years in prison each for trafficking pangolin scales from three African species.
- The 46 bags of scales were seized in a sting operation last June in Bac Ninh province, highlighting the global scale of pangolin trafficking driven by demand for traditional Chinese remedies.
AI-generated summary
Prized for its meat and scales, the pangolin has almost disappeared from forests and their hilly habitats of Africa and Asia. Conservationists estimate around 1 million have been trafficked over the last decade, triggered by demand for traditional remedies in China. On Wednesday, a court in Bac Ninh, a province outside Hanoi, sentenced Nguyen The Du and Nguyen Anh Ngoc to eight years' jail each for supplying and brokering the sale of the large haul to police officers posing as buyers in a sting operation last June. The scales, packed into 46 bags, came from three African species – the giant, white-bellied and black-bellied pangolin – according to anti-wildlife trafficking NGO Education for Nature Vietnam (ENV), revealing the global reach of the trade.
