Smuggled pangolin seized in Pran Buri

[snoop1130]

Smuggled pangolin seized in Pran Buri

By Khanathit Srihirandej 
The Nation

 

 

The Customs Department has seized 136 live pangolin and 450 kilograms of pangolin scales worth Bt2.5 million that had been smuggled from Malaysia into Thailand to be forwarded to China, department chief Kulit Sombatsiri said on Thursday.

 

The “most trafficked mammals in the world” were confiscated on Wednesday night following a tip-off that pangolins were being smuggled from Malaysia into Thailand and transported in two pickup trucks that had already passed through Chumphon. 

 

Officers at Prachuap Khiri Khan’s Pran Buri customs checkpoint searched two suspicious trucks and found pangolins and scales, he said.

 

The endangered pangolin – which fetches high prices in Asia for its scales, which are believed to have medicinal qualities, and meat – is banned in international commercial trade per the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites) and from import and export by Thailand’s Wildlife Protection Act 1992, said Kulit.

 

So far this year, the Customs Department has seized pangolins and their products weighing 2.9 tonnes and worth Bt29 million, and also confiscated 16,730 pieces of elephant tusks and ivory products worth Bt7.5 million, Kulit said. 

 

Authorities have prosecuted 34 cases linked to Cites-protected species and items worth more than Bt246 million this year, he added.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/breakingnews/30325416

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-8-31

[ukrules]

They have a customs checkpoint in Pranburi, that's very weird

[webfact]

Thailand seizes 136 smuggled live pangolins

 

A pangolin walks during a news conference after Thai customs confiscated 136 live pangolins, in Bangkok, Thailand August 31, 2017. REUTERS/Prapan Chankaew

 

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thai customs have confiscated 136 live pangolins, the world's most poached animal, and 450 kg (992 lb) of pangolin scales worth 2.5 million baht ($75,000), officials said on Thursday.

 

Authorities managed to intercept the smuggled pangolins which enteredThailand from Malaysia late on Wednesday after a tip-off.

 

Director-general of Thai Customs Department, Kulit Sombatsiri, said the market value and demand of the animals and their body parts remained high, which drove smuggling.

 

"The smugglers keep doing this because the payment is so high and there are lots of demand for the consumption of these wild animals," Kulit said.

 

Found only in Asia and Africa, the largely solitary and nocturnal pangolin, or "scaly anteater", is in high demand in countries like China and Vietnam, with their meat considered a delicacy and their scales used in folk remedies for ailments such as asthma, rheumatism and arthritis.

 

The 136 pangolins would be taken to a conservation area under the care of the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation.

 

Thailand is a major transit point for the trade in endangered species to other Asian countries and Pangolins and their scales are usually smuggled to Vietnam and China.

 

Since the beginning of the year, Thai authorities have seized more than 2.9 tonnes of smuggled pangolins and their scales, according to the Thai Customs Department.

 

A ban on global trade of pangolins took effect in January after tougher international protection was agreed last September for the eight species of the mammal, which curls up in a ball when threatened by predators.

 

All eight of the world's species of pangolin, which range from 30 to 100 cm in length, are threatened with extinction.

 

(Reporting by Prapan Chankaew and Juarawee Kittisilpa; Writing by Panu Wongcha-um)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-09-01

[Borzandy]

13 hours ago, snoop1130 said:

Authorities have prosecuted 34 cases linked to Cites-protected species

And they charged them 500 Baht each.

[hotchilli]

China is an evil country.. trade in anything illegal !

[PeCeDe]

The Chinese and their accomplices seem to have no understanding, or even care of the damage they are doing to the world for their silly beliefs. More power to the Thai customs for catching yet another merciless shipment.

[webfact]

Over 20 seized pangolins from the South have died

By Thai PBS

 

 

More than 20 pangolins which customs officials seized from wildlife traffickers three days ago on the way from Malaysian border in Southern Thailand to the Northeast have died, while several others are also in poor condition.

 

They were among 136 live pangolins and 450 kilograms (990 pounds) of scales seized on Wednesday by customs officials in two pickup trucks after authorities received a tip that they had been smuggled from Malaysia.

 

All the protected animals were later sent to the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation’s Wildlife Quarantine Center in Nakhon Nayok province.

 

Full story: http://englishnews.thaipbs.or.th/20-seized-pangolins-south-died/

 

-- © Copyright Thai PBS 2017-09-01