According to the Spokesperson of the Criminal Investigations Department of Police Charles Twine, the five suspects were found with three live pangolins from Masindi District, and they will be transported to Kampala before they are arraigned in court.
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One of the Pangolins found with the suspects in Masindi
Five people have been arrested for illegal possession of pangolins.
The arrested include Yasin Muyiga, Pascal Luyiga, James Munguuchi,
James Frank and Patrick Alyon.
According to the Spokesperson of the Criminal Investigations Department of
Police Charles Twine, the suspects were found with three live pangolins
in Masindi District.
The Pangolins are one of the most endangered wildlife species in the country
whose meat and its scales are highly valued by Chinese and Vietnamese for
medicinal purposes.
Twine says that police are also investigating cases of money
laundering against the suspects since most of the people involved in
trafficking of Wildlife endangered species have also been linked to similar
cases and terrorism.
Last month, 37 Chinese were remanded to Kitalya Prison for having six tortoises
and over 2000 suspected stolen sim cards that had been registered in Ugandan
names.
Last year, three Vietnamese were charged with similar cases after Uganda
Revenue Authority seized a contraband shipment of ivory and pangolin scales
worth eight million dollars (29.6 billion shillings).
The offence of unlawful possession of wildlife species carries a maximum
sentence of life imprisonment and can only be tried by a Chief Magistrate and
above.
