THREE Bulawayo men have appeared before regional magistrate Joseph Mabeza accused of illegally possessing a live pangolin.
They are Enerst Chipiro (31), Siduduzile Moyo (50) and Tinashe Shoko (32).
Chipiro pleaded guilty, while Moyo and Shoko pleaded not guilty.
They were remanded out of custody to January 29.
The court was told that on December 2 last year, police were tipped that the accused were in possession of a live pangolin in Matopo and were looking for a buyer.
On the same date, police contacted Chipiro on his mobile number purporting to be a potential buyer and agreed to meet near Four Winds shopping centre along Matopos Road in Bulawayo.
In the afternoon, police details proceeded to the rendezvous.
The three arrived at the agreed meeting place in a silver Honda Fit, with Shoko behind the wheel.
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Chipiro and Moyo were seated in the rear passenger’s seat.
The police detail, who was posing as a buyer, was shown the pangolin and accused persons agreed to sell it at US$5 000.
Police then signalled the back-up team to pounce on the three.
The back-up team approached the accused persons’ motor vehicle and identified themselves as police after which they requested to search the accused persons and their car.
The pangolin was found concealed in a red cooler bag on the rear seat where Chipiro and Moyo were seated.
Police asked the three to produce a licence or permit that allowed them to be in possession of the live pangolin, which they failed to produce.
They were subsequently arrested for illegal possession of a protected animal.
The pangolin was worth US$5 000.
