The Star 23 Feb 12;
MALACCA: More than 60 pangolins from across the Straits of Malacca were saved from ending up in restaurants here.
Enforcement officers from the State Customs Department managed to thwart the attempt to smuggle the 67 pangolins into the country in a mid-sea operation close to the shores of Pulau Besar here.
Two Indonesian men, aged 33 and 34, were detained and their speedboat seized during the operation at 11.30pm on Tuesday.
The animals were handed over to the State National Park and Wildlife Department (Perhi-litian).
Malacca’s Perhilitan director Abdul Rahim Othman said the two men were transporting the animals from Bengkalis in Indonesia.
“We believe a local wildlife trader was going to buy the pangolins before distributing them to restaurants here and other parts of the country,” he said, adding that the boat was heading towards Merlimau shores before it was intercepted.
Abdul Rahim said a preliminary probe revealed that the pangolins, weighing between 900g and 9kg, had a market value of about RM70,000.
“The price in the local market is between RM350 and RM3,150 depending on the weight,” he said.
Abdul Rahim said the pangolins had been transferred to the Malacca Zoo before a court order is obtained to release them into the wild.
Pangolin smuggling bid foiled
Hanis Maketab New Straits Times 23 Feb 12;
67 animals saved from the pot
MALACCA: STATE Customs officials foiled an attempt to smuggle 67 live pangolins into the country on Tuesday night.
Two Indonesian men, in their early 30s, were detained off the waters of Pulau Besar near Merlimau after the Customs' marine unit checked their boat and found the pangolins stored in three compartments.
The men did not have identification or travel documents.
State Wildlife and National Parks Department (Perhilitan) officers collected the pangolins and transported them to Malacca Zoo yesterday.
It is believed that the pangolins were to be sold to restaurants that served exotic meat.
State Wildlife director Abdul Rahim Othman said while it was possible that the pangolins could have been smuggled in to be sold to restaurants, it was more common for them to be smuggled out to nearby countries using Malaysia as a transit point.
"We believe poachers would have sold the pangolins for RM300 each to middlemen, who would then sell them to restaurateurs for RM300 per kg."
The pangolins were worth about RM80,000.
Pangolins, known scientifically as manis javanica, are a protected species.
Rahim said the two men would be charged for possession of more than 20 pangolins.
If convicted, they can be fined not more than RM100,000, or jailed not more than three years, or both.
Malacca Zoo director Ahmad Azhar Mohammed said the zoo had not had pangolins for some time because of their diet.
"Pangolins are difficult to keep in captivity as their diet consists of insects such as ants and termites, which are hard to get in large quantities.
"However, once the case has been resolved, we will release them back into the wild."
