Graphic on pangolins, the world's most heavily trafficked mammals. (AFP Photo/AFP) |
Malaysian authorities have made a record seizure of about 30 tonnes of pangolins and their scales worth some $2 million in raids on major processing facilities, police and environmentalists said Tuesday.
The haul
included about 1,800 boxes full of frozen pangolins stuffed inside three
refrigerated containers, 572 more frozen pangolins in six freezers, 61 live
pangolins in cages, and 361 kilogrammes (795 pounds) of pangolin scales, according
to police.
The
Southeast Asian nation is battling to clamp down on rampant poaching and
smuggling of pangolins, the world's most heavily trafficked mammal.
The
critically endangered creatures, also known as scaly anteaters, have long been
targeted as their body parts are highly valued in traditional medicine in
countries including China and Vietnam while their meat is considered a
delicacy.
Following a
tip-off, wildlife officials in Sabah state raided a factory and a warehouse on
Thursday, according to a statement from local police chief Omar Mammah.
Graphic on
pangolins, the world's most heavily trafficked mammals. (AFP Photo)
|
Police
arrested a 35-year-old man suspected to have been in charge of the factory as
part of an illegal syndicate.
The
operation is believed to have been running for the past seven years, and police
believe the pangolins were bought from poachers to be distributed locally.
Traffic, a
Malaysia-based group that monitors wildlife smuggling around the region, said
it was the "biggest such bust Malaysia has seen to date".
"No
threatened species can withstand industrial levels of extraction such as
this," Kanitha Krishnasamy, the group's Southeast Asia director, told AFP.
The
seizures also shone a light on Sabah's major role in animal trafficking -- the
state on Borneo island has been implicated in smuggling cases involving over 40
tonnes of pangolins since August 2017, according to Traffic.
Malaysia
regularly foils attempts to smuggle pangolins and their parts out of the
country but usually on a far smaller scale.
No comments:
Post a Comment