171 pangolins bound for Thailand seized (NewStraitsTimes)

[eppur_se_muova]

By SHARIFAH MAHSINAH ABDULLAH | [e-mail] 0 comments

KOTA BARU: STATE police prevented 171 pangolins worth RM340,000 from ending up in cooking pots in Thailand with the arrest of five men on Saturday.

The men, aged between 30 and 45, were detained in two operations in Jeli and Bachok.

Police said in Jeli, they detained two men at a roadblock near the Mara Junior Science College at 4am and seized 16 pangolins from them.

They also seized the four-wheel-drive vehicle the duo were in.

Some 20 hours later, another police team in Bachok seized 155 pangolins packed into nets from three men while they were at an unnumbered house in Kampung Alur Tok Majan.
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more: http://www.nst.com.my/nation/general/171-pangolins-bound-for-thailand-seized-1.90678#ixzz1xVH09Ofn




Thailand: 110 Pangolins Seized, Suspect Fined $75,000

Thai customs officials have seized nearly 250 pangolins in less than two weeks.
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The incident follows less than two weeks after Thai Customs officers seized 138 pangolins that seem to have been en route to Laos, and also arrested another suspect, Pracha Ramai.

Last weekend, Malaysian authorities arrested five locals and seized a total of 171 scaly anteaters (in two busts) that were said to have been on their way to Thailand — possibly as a stop over on their way to larger consumer markets in China or Vietnam.

Already this month, there have been at least four cases of pangolin seizures in Malaysia, Vietnam, and now Thailand.

Media reports on these busts indicate officials have confiscated total of 281 of the animals — all within the first seven days of the month.
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more: http://pangolins.org/2012/06/07/thailand-110-pangolins-seized-suspect-fined-75000/




You can guess the reasons why: (1) Some people consider them a delicacy, and (2) their scales are used in traditional medicine for their "special powers". The scales are made of keratin, the principal component of fingernails and hair. Poor innocuous critters are probably now doomed to extinction.




ETA: More story and pix at HuffPo, for those who aren't bothered by browser congestion: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2011/09/26/photos-100-pangolins-seiz_n_981051.html#s372240&title=The_Pangolins_Face

[NV Whino]

1. Strange looking critters

Sort of the Thai version of an armadillo.