Illustrative image (Source: EPA/VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – The People’sProcuracy of Hanoi city has completed the indictment to prosecute Nguyen HuuTien, born in 1983, residing in Thuong Tin district, for the charge ofviolating regulations on the protection of endangered and rare animals under Article244 of the Criminal Code 2015.
The punishment for Tien is from 10 to 15 yearsof imprisonment, according to the indictment.
On August 17, 2018, the Investigation PoliceAgency of the Hanoi Department of Public Security coordinated with police inNhi Khe commune (Thuong Tin district) to conduct an administrative inspectionof Tien’s carpentry workshop.
They discovered a white bag containing 27 logsin different sizes weighing 7kg in total which are suspected to be ivory.
While raiding Tien’s house, the relevant forcescontinued to seize many crafts weighing a total of 85kg which are suspected tobe made of ivory.
The testing results of the Institute of Ecologyand Biological Resources under the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technologyshowed that all the logs and crafts are African ivory, which is scientifically calledLoxodonta Africana.
This animal species is listed in the annexes ofthe Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Fauna and Flora,which the Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development promulgatedin February 2017.
Tien confessed that he knew a man named Tuanfrom Thanh Hoa province in late 2017. Tuan sold around 46 kg of ivory worth 9million VND (387 USD) each for Tien to craft into jewellery and fine arts forsale.-VNA
VNA
