Anson Wong leaving court after sentencing Click photo to enlarge September 2010—Anson Wong Keng Liang was sentenced to six months in jail and fined MYR 190,000 (about US$61,000) earlier this month after he was convicted of attempting to export snakes from Malaysia without a permit.

Wong was arrested on the night of 26th August at Kuala Lumpur International Airport after Malaysia Airlines security staff noticed his broken bag on a conveyor belt and discovered 95 Boa Constrictors, two Rhinoceros Vipers and a Mata-Mata Turtle packed inside.

He was in transit at the time between Penang and Jakarta, Indonesia.

His was only the second case to be tried under Malaysia’s newly implemented International Trade in Endangered Species Act 2008, which carries a maximum fine of RM100,000 per animal up to an aggregate of RM 1 million, or up to seven years jail, or both upon conviction.

The first case under the new Act concerned two Malagasy women caught trying to smuggle hundreds of rare tortoises into the country in July. The pair was sentenced to a longer jail term—a year each.

The court was told that Wong had imported the snakes into Malaysia legally but failed to apply for a permit to re-export them to Indonesia.

When questioned by Sessions Court Judge Zulhelmy Hasan, Wong explained that his customer had pushed him to deliver the snakes before Hari Raya and in his haste to keep the customer happy, did not apply for the permit.

Apart from the fine and jail terms meted out, the Court also ordered that three mobile phones and a laptop Wong was carrying at the time of arrest remain in the custody of the Wildlife and National Parks Department.

Senior legal adviser for the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry, Faridz Gohim Abdullah told the Court that the laptop contained information about alleged related illegal activities and that the phone carried the names of suspected smugglers.

Wong shot to notoriety in 2000 after he was arrested and prosecuted in the United States for wildlife trafficking and handed a 71-month jail term and fined US$60,000 (RM187,000).

Interest in Wong was renewed in 2008 after the publication of the reptile smuggling thriller The Lizard King by Bryan Christy which detailed Wong’s illegal dealings that eventually landed him behind bars in the US.