Pangolins saved at cemetery in Kuantan, Malaysia

New Straits Times 20 Dec 09;

KUANTAN: Police arrested two men on Friday and seized 130 pangolins which were meant to be smuggled overseas.

Acting on a tip-off, police went to a Chinese cemetery in Lebuh Raya Tun Razak here at 10am and caught the two sorting out the pangolins from plastic sacks into modified compartments of two cars.

The two men and the animals were taken to the Gambang police station before police alerted the state Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan).

Perhilitan director Khairiah Mohd Shariff said investigations revealed that the scaly mammals were intended to be taken to Kuala Lumpur to be skinned before being transported to Johor for export.

She said a kilogram of pangolin meat could fetch about RM200 in neighbouring countries, the price depending on the size of the animal.

"We believe the pangolins were trapped by plantation workers and individuals to be sold to prospective buyers.

Policemen showing some of the pangolins that were seized in a raid at a cemetery in Lebuh Raya Tun Razak, Kuantan.

"To avoid being caught, the smugglers operate on public holidays and transport the animals in cars instead of lorries," she said yesterday.

Khairiah said the smuggling of exotic animals such as pangolins, clouded monitor lizards, owls, porcupines and pythons would usually rise at year-end.

She said the department was thankful for the quick action by police.

Sources said the suspects, who are in their early 20s, had made the burial ground their meeting point to collect the endangered animals.

Plantation areas used to be popular collection points but after being ambushed on numerous occasions, the smugglers have chosen other remote areas, including cemeteries, the sources said.

Khairiah said the suspects, from Pahang and Kedah, have been released on police bail and will be charged in court.

The pangolins would be released at the National Park forest here.

Pangolins are popular for their meat as well as their scales which are used in traditional medicine.