Thailand’s biggest-ever pangolin scale seized

BANGKOK, February 2 (TNA) - The Thai Customs Department, in cooperation with related agencies, has seized almost 3,000 kilogrammes of pangolin scales that were smuggled from Africa, worth more than 100 million baht. The Customs Department announced at a press conference in Bangkok on Thursday that it had worked with the Royal Thai Police and the National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department in the recent two operations. According to the Customs Department, the first lot of 1,700-kilogramme-pangolin scales was seized on December 4, 2016, after it was transported from Kongo to Thailand, through Turkey, and destined to Laos, while the second lot of 1,200-kilogramme- pangolin scales was confiscated later on December 23. National Park, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Department Director-General Thanya Netithammakun said that officials were checking the scales to find what species of pangolin they belong to. "If the scales are from the Chinese or Java pangolin, originated in Thailand and protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), legal action will be taken against the culprits under Thailand's Wildlife Protection Act B.E.2535", stressed the senior official. The pangolin scales were destined to China and Vietnam, where they would be used as elixir in traditional remedies to cure illnesses, including impotence. Said to be the world's most trafficked mammal, the 17th CITES meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa, last year moved the scaly anteater to the CITES list’s Appendix1, which bans all intermanational trade of the animal, taking effective as of January 4, 2017. (TNA)