Five remanded for illegal possession of wildlife species

Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Five suspects have been remanded to Kitalya government prison on charges of illegal possession of wildlife species. The five appeared on Thursday before Buganda Road Grade One Magistrate Asuman Muhumuza.

They are Yasin Muyiga, Pascal Luyiga, James Munguuchi, James Frank and Patrick Alyon. Prosecution contends that the accused persons were arrested in Masindi district on April 7th after being found with three live pangolins.

Muhumuza didn’t allow the accused persons to enter any plea since they can only be tried by a Chief Magistrate. He remanded them to Kitalya government prison in Wakiso district until May 7th when they can formally plead to the charges before the Chief Magistrate.

The State Prosecutor, Patricia Cingtho told court that their investigations into the matter were still ongoing. Cases of this nature have been common in the recent past. Last month, 37 Chinese were remanded to Kitalya prison after being found in possession of six tortoises and over 2000 suspected stolen sim cards registered in Ugandan names.

Also in 2019, three Vietnamese nationals were charged with similar cases after Uganda Revenue Authority seized a contraband shipment of ivory and pangolin scales worth USD 8M (29.6 billion Shillings. The offence of unlawful possession of wildlife species carries a maximum sentence of Life imprisonment upon conviction.

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