#Caught


Scales from 11,000 Pangolins Seized in Hong Kong from Nigeria

Nigeria – The Nigerian Minister of Environment, Ibrahim Usman Jibril, has opened an investigation into the seizure by the Hong Kong Customs Service of 7,100 kilos of pangolins scales – representing approximately 11,000 pangolins, according to Pangolin Conservation. “The Ministry has initiated the investigation of the reported illegal trade by communicating officially with the Hong Kong CITES Management Authority with a view of furnishing the documents that will be forwarded to INTERPOL for further investigation.”, […]


Attempted Smugging 357kg Pangolin Scales Discovered at Vietnam’s Noi Bai Airport

Customs officers detected two consignments containing pangolin scales at Noi Bai International Airport in Hanoi on April 4. The consignments were transported from Ghana to Noi Bai on February 27. Recently, many consignments of pangolin scales were uncovered at the airport, including one from Cameroon containing 357kg of scales. The traditional use of pangolin scales to treat blocked milk ducts is touted by a number of websites online, but doctors of traditional medicine said scientific […]


China: Hong Kong Authorities Hunt for Pangolin Smuggling Suspects

Hong Kong police and customs officers in an anti-smuggling operation confiscated HK$1.45 million worth of pangolin, an endangered species and a Chinese delicacy, into the city on Monday. The law enforcement agencies mounted a joint operation to combat smuggling activities in Sai Kung and Tseung Kwan O at about 2.30pm Monday, amid the rising number of smugglers at sea. Officers took enforcement action after spotting six people loading goods onto a speedboat at Che Keng […]


African White-Bellied Tree Pangolin

GOOD NEWS: Pangolin DNA Database is Being Developed to Combat Smuggling

This week at the IUCN conference it was announced that the Center for Conservation Biology, at the University of Washington in Seattle, was awarded a grant as part of the USAID Wildlife Crime Tech Challenge. One of 4 grand prize winners. Sam Wasser, Ph.D., and graduate student Hyeon Jong Kim will develop non-invasive genetic tests. Which will allow field researchers to identify what populations and regions poached pangolins originated from. These tests can be instrumental to […]


LARGEST Known Seizure of Pangolin Scales, It’s Devastating!

Pangolin Conservation – 16,093 lbs (7,300 kg) of pangolin scales from Nigeria were seized today in Hong Kong (an autonomous territory of China), according to customs officials. The valuable of the pangolin scales was reported as $1,805,182 US dollars (14 million Hong Kong Dollars). They were found on a cargo shipped in the Kwai Chung Customhouse Cargo Examination Compound and declared as “660 bags of recycled plastic particles”. Customs officials found that 259 bags contained pangolin scales of […]


Forensics Expertise Brought to Train Scientists on Pangolin DNA to Help ID Smuggled Products

Pretoria, South Africa 4th July 2016—Scientists from Malaysia, Thailand, VietNam, Indonesia, South Korea, Australia and the United Kingdom as well as the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) law enforcement attaché for Southern Africa, last week visited the National Zoological Gardens of South Africa (NZG) to learn about the wildlife DNA casework being undertaken to help crack cases with international ramifications. The need for international forensics collaboration was highlighted by the seizure the previous […]


Good News! Report on Pangolin Poaching Jolts State into Action – India

Taking a serious note of the rising number of pangolin poaching cases, the state government has decided to launch a crackdown on poachers and traffickers. DNA had reported on Saturday how the illegal wildlife trade is thriving in the state. A huge collection of pangolin scales was also seized in Ratnagiri district recently. In July 2015, a huge stash of 44kg pangolin scales was recovered near Chiplun, and in February this year, 12kg scales were recovered […]


Pangolin Trafficking on the Rise While the Government is in Slumber – India

Last week, when Ratnagiri police raided a house in the town located on the Konkan coast following a tip-off about an illegal gun being kept there, they stumbled upon a stash of pangolin scales. The seizure is the latest revelation of illegal wildlife trade in body parts of the insectivorous mammal, which is in demand for its supposed therapeutic value in Oriental medicine. Activists and forest officials claim that these seizures — three in Ratnagiri […]


Nigerian Customs Arrest Two Attempting To Smuggle Pangolin Scales & Ivory

Lagos, Nigeria – The Nigerian Customs Service has intercepted 678 pieces of elephant tusks and 381kg of pangolin being smuggled out of the country by some Chinese citizens at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos. The airport Customs command said it arrested two Chinese nationals over the attempt to smuggle out the prohibited items. According to the Customs, the attempt by the Chinese nationals contravenes Schedule 6 of the Nigerian Exports Prohibition List, which prescribes […]


500 Kg Pangolin Scales Found at Kenyan Airport

Kenya- 500 kilograms of Pangolin scales worth Sh300 million have been recovered at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA). The consignment which seemed to not have an owner was nabbed at the KQ cargo area and was then taken into KWS custody. Investigations revealed that the scales were being shipped from Conakry, Guinea to Lagos, Nigeria. The Cites Management Authority in Conakry, Guinea (Ministry of Water, Forests and Environment) stated that the documents which were found alongside […]