Nguyễn Văn Phố in court. Photo cand.com.vn

HÀ NỘI — The Hà Nội People’s Court on Tuesday sentenced Nguyễn Văn Phố to five years in prison for violating regulations on the protection of endangered, precious and rare animals.

Per the indictment, Phố, born in 1989 in the central province of Hà Tĩnh’s Thạch Hà district, was caught carrying two pieces of rhino horns weighing nearly 1.9kg in his luggage at Hà Nội’s Nội Bài International on November 7 last year.

Pho declared that while working in Angola, he had met a contractor named Anh who offered VNĐ1.2 million (US$51.7) to him to transport a piece of luggage with those objects to Việt Nam.

Phố accepted the offer and brought the luggage from Angola’s Luanda airport and transited through Thailand’s Bangkok.

In court, he admitted he knew about the ban on rhino horn transportation, but still committed the crime. — VNS