Thai National Freed in South Africa Parrot Egg Smuggling Case

Unidentified person pays fine for Thai man who tries to smuggle parrot eggs in AfricaLegacyA Thai man convicted of attempting to smuggle 50 parrot eggs from South Africa to Vietnam has been released after a court suspended his five-year prison sentence, allowing him to return home. Wanchai Prakaiphet, 50, was arrested at OR Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg on August 29 after officers found 50 parrot eggs inside a handmade incubator bag he was attempting to carry onto a flight. Forty-eight eggs had already hatched, but all the chicks had died. The two remaining eggs hatched later. Wanchai reportedly told officers he had been offered US$2,000 to deliver the eggs to a person waiting at an airport in Vietnam. The eggs were allegedly intended to be sent on to Japan. Photo by Ministry of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Prosecutors charged him with three offences. The first involved breaching South Africa’s National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act and regulations under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). The second charge involved making a false declaration to customs, while the third concerned keeping animals in conditions that caused unnecessary suffering. The first offence carries a potential penalty of up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to 10 million rand. The customs offence carries a maximum of 10 years in prison and a fine of up to 40,000 rand, according to the supplied report. On November 5, the Kempton Park Regional Court in Ekurhuleni sentenced Wanchai to five years in prison and imposed a fine of 300,000 rand, equivalent to about 600,000 baht. Photo by Ministry of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment However, the court reportedly took several mitigating factors into account. These included his lack of previous convictions, his role as the sole earner for his family, his limited income and claims that he had been deceived into accepting the job. The court suspended the prison sentence on condition that he does not commit the same offence during the next five years. ThaiRath reported that an unidentified person paid the fine on Wanchai’s behalf, allowing him to be released and return to Thailand. His arrest came weeks after another Thai national was stopped at the same airport with 418 parrot eggs hidden in two homemade incubator bags. Similar news

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