Lagos Court Jails 4 Foreigners Over Wildlife Trafficking

For their involvement in wildlife trafficking, four foreigners have been convicted and sentenced to six years imprisonment by the Federal High Court sitting in Lagos

Among those to serve either jail terms or pay the court-imposed fines are three Vietnamese, Phan Chi, Phan Quan, and Duong Thang, and a Guinean, Mory Berrette.

The Court was informed by the prosecution that all the convicts committed the offences between 2018 and 2022, in Lagos.

The presiding judge, Justice Yelim Bogoro made the ruling after the quartet pleaded guilty to an amended four-count charge after entering a plea bargain agreement with the Nigerian Customs Service (NCS).

Each of them was sentenced to three years imprisonment on the first count or the sum of N500,000 each as fine in lieu of imprisonment with Justice Bogoro ruling thus; “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.”

Going by the plea bargain arrangement, 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.”

Similarly, “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.”

Alongside two Nigerians, Babangida Mahmoud and Olamilekan Adenekan, as well as a Guinean, Fofou Evariste, the four convicts have been on trial since 2022. The NCS had arraigned the seven defendants on July 22, 2022, for alleged illegal possession, dealing in, assembling, storing, smuggling, and trading in pangolin scale and elephant ivory.

Their arrest was enforced by the joint wildlife enforcement operations initiated by the NCS and the Wildlife Justice Commission, targeting illegal wildlife traders and traffickers from Africa to Asia.