10 months’ jail for trading firm director linked to import of more than 1,700 pieces of elephant tusk
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Dao Thi Boi was convicted in 2022 of an offence under the Endangered Species (Import and Export) Act.
ST FILE PHOTO
SINGAPORE – A woman who was a director of a trading company that imported a 40-foot container with an unprecedented haul of 1,787 pieces of elephant tusk was given 10 months’ jail on Wednesday.
After a trial, Dao Thi Boi, now 40, was convicted in 2022 of an offence under the Endangered Species (Import and Export) Act.
At the time of the offence, the Vietnamese woman, who is also a Singapore permanent resident, was the owner of VNSG Trading and a director at Song Hong Trading & Logistics.
On March 3, 2018, an Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) officer on duty at Pasir Panjang Scanning Station scanned the container. Its permit stated that it contained 203 packages of groundnuts.
The ICA officer instead saw images of items resembling animal horns inside the container, and it was detained for investigation.
Sixty-one bags containing 1,787 suspected pieces of elephant tusk, weighing 3,480kg in total, were found.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Lee Zu Zhao had earlier said in his submissions that Boi not only turned a blind eye to the dishonest business practices by her client – a man named Su Thien – but actively and knowingly assisted in them.
According to court documents, Boi handled about seven consignments from Nigeria to Singapore on behalf of Su Thien through her companies between 2017 and March 5, 2018.
As the sole person operating Song Hong Trading & Logistics, Boi had to be fully aware that the company had imported the container containing the pieces of elephant tusk, said DPP Lee.
The prosecutor added: “Just because Song Hong was not involved in the initial stuffing of the container where the elephant tusks were found... or did not participate in the shipping out of the elephant tusks from Nigeria, does not mean that Song Hong did not cause the elephant tusks to be imported into Singapore.
“In fact, the evidence shows that Song Hong played an essential role, and that the elephant tusks could not have been imported into Singapore without Song Hong’s involvement.”
However, he noted that Boi did not reap significant financial benefits from the offence.
Defence lawyer Wee Pan Lee told the court on Wednesday that his client intends to appeal against her conviction and sentence.
Boi’s bail was then set at $16,000.
