A group of people keeping pangolins illegally were recently caught red-handed by the police of the northeastern border province of Quang Ninh and the Criminal Police Department under the Ministry of Public Security in the province’s Mong Cai city.

A group of people keeping pangolins illegally were recently caught red-handed by the police of the northeastern border province of Quang Ninh and the Criminal Police Department under the Ministry of Public Security in the province’s Mong Cai city (Illustrative photo)

On September 6, the police discovered 77 pangolins were being kept in a storage house of Pham Van Tuan in Cau Voi village, Van Ninh commune of the city. The pangolins totally weigh 301.88 kilogrammes.

After an expanded search, authorities found additional 47 pangolins, weighting 224.5kg, along with 7kg of pangolin scale.

In addition, they seized six cars and 10 motorbikes at the scene.

The case is being further investigated.

Pangolins are the most trafficked animal in the world. Vietnam is home to two pangolin species, the Sunda Pangolin (Manis javanica) and Chinese Pangolin (Manis pentadactyla), both listed as Critically Endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)’s Red List, and are near extinction. 

In Vietnam, all illegal hunting, trading, poaching and transportation of even a single pangolin will be punished with one to five years’ imprisonment, a fine of between 500 million VND (22,000 USD) and 2 billion VND under a law which came into effect from January 1, 2018.-VNA