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| Photo source: TRAFFIC |
BALIK PULAU: The magistrate's court fixed May 8 for mention in the case involving Cheah Bing Shee, the wife of notorious wildlife trafficker Anson Wong, for allegedly keeping five protected elongated tortoises without a special permit.
Magistrate Muhammad Najib Ismail fixed the date for the case which was mentioned in his court in the absence of Sessions Court judge Caroline Bee Majanil, who was away.
Cheah, who is also the manager of Rona Wildlife, along with the company and its director K. Muthukomar, had all been charged in December last year with keeping three protected male elongated tortoises and two protected female elongated tortoises.
They had claimed trial to committing the offences on a private premises at lot 157, Mukim 1, Pantai Acheh, Balik Pulau, about 1.30pm on Nov 24 last year.
The first offence, under Section 68(1)(a) of the Wildlife Conservation Act 2010, carries a maximum RM100,000 fine, three years' jail or both. The second offence, under Section 70(1) of the same Act, carries a maximum RM300,000 fine, maximum 10 years' jail or both.
During proceedings, Ramesh Raj, who appeared for Cheah, Muthukomar and the company, requested further documents from the prosecution. Deputy public prosecutor Charanjit Singh Mahinder Singh prosecuted.
The prosecution of the trio has come on the heels of a year-long investigation by Al Jazeera's Steve Chao into the illegal wildlife trade, with a focus on Wong and Cheah.
Titled Return of the Lizard King, the documentary by Chao on the network's 101 East, infiltrated Wong's network from Madagascar to Thailand, to Indonesia and to Malaysia, uncovering the trade in Radiated tortoises, which are the second most endangered species in Madagascar.
Dubbed the "Pablo Escobar of animal trafficking", Wong has been arrested twice by authorities, and did time behind bars in the US and Malaysia, totalling eight years.
In 1998, Wong was detained by US agents who had lured him to Mexico in an investigation lasting five years. He was later convicted for smuggling endangered species and sentenced to 71 months in jail.
After being released from US prison, Wong's continued involvement in smuggling was confirmed in 2010, when his bag broke open while in transit to Jakarta, revealing 95 boa constrictors.
Wong was later freed in February 2012 without serving the full sentence.
Source: New Straits Times
