Court jails four foreigners for trafficking animals in Lagos

The Federal High Court in Lagos on Wednesday convicted and sentenced four foreigners to six years imprisonment for wildlife trafficking.

The convicts are three Vietnamese nationals -Phan Chi, Phan Quan, and Duong Thang, and a Guinean, Mory Berrette.

Justice Yelim Bogoro convicted them after they pleaded guilty to an amended four-count after they entered a plea bargain agreement with the Nigerian Customs Service.

The court sentenced each of them to three years imprisonment on the first count or the sum of N500,000 each as fine in lieu of imprisonment.

The judge said, “You are sentenced to two years imprisonment on the second count, or in lieu of imprisonment pay the sum of N2m each as a fine.

“The convicts shall each pay a fine in the sum of N2m each for the third count, being first-time offenders.

“The convicts shall each be sentenced to one-year imprisonment on the fourth count or in lieu of imprisonment pay the sum of N200,000 each as a fine.”

According to the terms of the plea bargain deal, the convicts “will assist in providing useful information for the arrest of other persons at large who are involved in the wildlife trafficking trade within and outside Nigeria.

“The convicts also agreed to stand as witnesses for the prosecution when required to do so, if the absconding suspects involved in the trace of illegal wildlife trafficking within and outside Nigeria are arrested now or at any time in the future.”

The four convicts had been standing trial since 2022, alongside two Nigerians, Babangida Mahmoud and Olamilekan Adenekan, and a Guinean, Fofou Evariste.

The seven defendants were arraigned by the NCS on July 22, 2022, for alleged illegal possession, dealing in, assembling, storing, smuggling, and trading in pangolin scale and elephant ivory.

They were arrested as a result of joint wildlife enforcement operations by the NCS and the Wildlife Justice Commission, targeting illegal wildlife traders and traffickers from Africa to Asia.

The prosecution informed the court that all the defendants committed the offences between 2018 and 2022, in Lagos.