Man fined RM120,000 for possession of live pangolins

ALOR SETAR: A man was fined RM120,000 after he pleaded guilty to four charges of possession of and cruelty to 109 live pangolins.

Sessions Court judge Zanol Rashid Hussian also ordered the accused Manshor Hat, 49, to be jailed for a year if he fails to pay the fine.

The charges were framed under various sections of the Wildlife Conservation Act (Act 716).

The accused, who is an odd-job worker, a padi farmer and also a rubber tapper, was found keeping 109 live pangolins in sacks and covered in nets in a shed beside his house in Titi Kerbau, Changlun, at about noon on Dec 30.

Manshor, who was unrepresented, failed to pay the fine.

State Wildlife Department DPP Nur Ainaa Ridzwan prosecuted the case.

The Star reported on Dec 31 that the more than 100 pangolins bound for cooking pots in Thailand were rescued by Bukit Kayu Hitam Border Security Agency officers from a shed beside a house in Changlun.

The pangolins, weighing about 1kg to 6kg each and worth a total of RM196,200, were to be picked up by Thai nationals to be smuggled into Thailand where they could fetch up to RM300 per kilo.