Vietnam Sentences Wildlife Trader to Five Years in Prison

A court in Vietnam’s southern metropolis of Ho Chi Minh City has issued a five-year jail term to a Vietnamese wildlife trafficker who posted for sale on his Facebook account some wild animals, according to the Tuoi Tre newspaper. Tan Binh People’s Court sentenced Phan Huynh Anh Khoa, 23, for trading wild animals which was caught red-handed in December 2015. The arrest of Khoa is the result of a two-year investigation by Education for Nature-Vietnam (ENV) when he was caught red-handed with a dead red-shanked douc (Pygathrix nemaeus), and nine Asian small-clawed otters (Aonyx cinereus). In addition to jail time, Khoa was fined VND50 million ($2,230). Khoa was dubbed the “Bastard of the Internet” by ENV due to his flagrant advertising of a wide assortment of endangered and protected species. He traded wildlife on his Facebook page, websites, and trading forums. He sold douc langurs, leopard cats, pangolins, marine turtles, otters, and lorises. List of live animals for sale is considered as a small zoo, and included both native and exotic wildlife. Khoa mocked Vietnamese authorities and ENV on his Facebook page, promising that he would never be caught. Vietnam’s police busted average 50-70 wildlife smuggling cases with between 4,000 tons and 4,500 tons of wild animals annually, said Nguyen Anh Tuan from Interpol Vietnam, adding that the country will become one of the world’s hot transshipment ports for wildlife trading in the next five years. (Tuoi Tre – Youth June 21, Nld.com.vn June 21)