And the thugs climbing onto this bandwagon is growing daily...CW British citizen gets 5 years jail in Kenya over suspected snake smuggling Posted by Kevin Heath posted on September 25th, 2013 at 9: 23 am and last updated on September 25th, 2013 at 9: 23 am Simon Harris from the UK has been sentenced to 5 years in a Kenyan jail for trading in snakes. Simon Harris from the UK has been sentenced to 5 years in a Kenyan jail for trading in snakes. A British citizen has been sentenced to 5 years in prison for being in possession of 6 poisonous snakes without a permit in a suspected wildlife smuggling case. 43-years-old Simon David Harris pleaded with the magistrate for the sentence to be converted to a fine as he was led away to start his prison term. Harris, who was living in Germany, had visited Kenya and was with a Kenyan colleague, Richard Wangwe Adera, at a hotel – the Fish Camp hotel at Kongoni - when police arrested them following a tip-off. The police found that the two were in possession of 6 live Kenya horned viper snakes. The two had no certificate of ownership, they had failed to report possession of government trophies and were also found to be trading in government trophies. 20cm stretchy rubber snake party bag toys x 6 £1.43 Buy Now When questioned by Kenya Wildlife Service investigators questioned them they were unable to explain how the snakes came into their possession or where they were going to take the snakes to. In the dock both men pleaded guilty and fully expected to receive a fine and then allowed to go free. The magistrate though decided that a deterrent sentence needed to be set and sentenced both to prison time. On the first charge of possession of the snakes, Naivasha Resident Magistrate Seline Muchungi. sentenced the two to 3 years jail without and option for fine payment. The second two charges of failing to report and undertaking trade in government trophies she sentenced the two to 1 year jail for each charge. The Kenyan Horned Viper (Bitis worthingtoni) is under a growing threat by collections for the pet trade. It is a relatively small snake that grows upto 20 inches in length. It is only found in a small region of Kenya’s upper Rift Valley area. Because it is endemic to a small area around Lake Naivasha the snake is vulnerable to losses.
Posted on: Tue, 01 Oct 2013 09:43:45 +0000
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