The recently appointed member of the Chimoio Municipal Assembly, in Manica, for the Frelimo party, Wanda Moisés Madondo, 40, was arrested on Sunday (11), in the city of Beira, for trafficking and selling pangolin.

He was intercepted in the Inhamizua neighborhood, carrying the live animal in a water bottle.

The former secretary of OJM, Frelimo's youth wing, is suspected of leading a group of four young people with whom he had set up an illegal pangolin business, at prices of up to one million meticais, writes the newspaper Savannah.

Madondo, who is also a teacher and principal of Amílcar Cabral Primary School in Chimoio, is said to be the ringleader of the scheme to supply pangolins to Chinese citizens in Sofala.

In addition to him, four other individuals are in police custody in connection with the case, at the sixth police station of the Republic of Mozambique, in the city of Beira.

The seized pangolin was handed over to ANAC (National Administration of Conservation Areas). This entity, in turn, handed the animal over to a sanctuary in Gorongosa National Park, points out the newspaper.