Three Vietnamese nationals have been charged for illegal possession of wildlife products worth Sh13.4 billion.
Kololo based Anti-Corruption on Thursday remanded Phung Thi Lier, 35 over possessing prohibited goods and wildlife products without a wildlife use right, contrary to the East African Community Customs Management Act, 2004 and Wildlife Act, Cap 200.
A person who commits the offences is liable on conviction to five years imprisonment or a fine equal to 50 percent of the dutiable value of the goods involved, or both.
Ms Lier appeared before Grade One Magistrate, Sarah Namusobya Mutebi for plea taking and she denied the charges.
The charging of Ms Lier brings to three the number of Vietnamese nationals arrested by the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) in possession of illegal wildlife products.
Other suspects are Son Dong Nguyen, 40, and Van Chieu Pham, 33 who were earlier released on bail pending trial.
The accused persons were arrested by URA officials following a tip-off by one of the residents of Bweyogerere.
According to prosecution, the accused persons were allegedly found with pieces of ivory weighing 3,299 kilogrammes valued at Shs8.7 billion and pangolin scales weighing 423.7 kilogrammes worth Shs4.7 billion at Namboole in Wakiso district.
According to the charge sheet, the suspects had concealed ivory and pangolin scale in nine molds of paraffin wax embedded inside wooden cases disguised as logs, as they loaded in a container at Namboole on transit to Vietnam.
The URA prosecutor asserts that the accused and others still at large on January 24, 2019, at Namboole in Wakiso District were found in possession of prohibited goods (pieces of ivory), and loaded in container on truck registration number KBN 619/ZD 598, which they knew or ought to have known, to be prohibited goods.
It is alleged that the accused and others still at large in the same period was found in possession of pangolin scale, loaded in the same truck.
By David Sseguya
