Six Vietnamese law violators in South Africa return home

Six Vietnamese nationals, who were detained in South Africa in 2018 for violating the country’s Biodiversity Act on Protection of Threatened Species, left the country for home on June 30 after performing their obligations to the court’s rulings.

South Africa’s Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation, commonly known as Hawks, announced on November 25, 2018 that six Vietnamese were nabbed while driving in a convoy in Klerksdorp, the North West Province, which is about 250 kilometres to the northwest of the capital Pretoria.

A search of the vehicles found a large quantity of freshly cut lion meat and bones, a tiger skin and bonds, gas cylinders, gas burners, containers, a saw, knives, and other equipment used to process predator carcasses and bones.

The syndicate members were charged with illegal possession of game products, particularly lion parts and a tiger carcass, without a permit, and carrying out restricted activities involving the specimen of a listed, threatened or protected species.