BANGKOK, Thailand (Reuters) — Thai officials on Thursday (February 2) displayed 2.9 tons of confiscated pangolin scales worth $826,446 that were smuggled into Thailand from Congo and destined for Laos.
Authorities said the seizure was a result of an illegal wildlife crackdown by the police, Thai customs, and the Wildlife Department, who had carried out three raids at Bangkok’s Suvarnnabhumi Airport since December.
Thai customs chief Kulit Sombatsiri said although pangolins were moved from Appendix II to Appendix I in September last year, which lists them as ‘threatened with extinction’ and is prohibited from international trade, the decision was only made effective in January 2017.
When they were under Appendix II, pangolin scales required a permit to trade. Kulit said the seized scales were transported with a fake permit.
“All of these were sent originally from Congo, through Turkey to a third country. We confiscated them from Suvarnnabhumi airport in December. In 2016, these scales were on Appendix II (of CITES) that require a permit to trade,” Kulit added.
He also said that about 6,000 pangolins were killed for the total amount of 2.9 tons of scales.
For more than 40 years, pangolin species have been the subject of significant attention because of their exceptionally high risk of over-exploitation associated with international and illicit trade, according to a CITES report in October 2016.
The nocturnal scaly mammals are shipped from Africa to meet demand in Asia. Products made from pangolins are prized for their supposed medicinal value and have led to their numbers falling drastically.
