Sharifah Mashsinah Abdullah New Straits Times 4 Jun 12;
RM340,000 DELICACY: Police detain 5 and seize two vehicles
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.
Another 4WD vehicle was also seized here.
The pangolins (manis javanica) and the five local men were later handed over to the state Wildlife and National Parks Department.
Department assistant officer Cosmas Ngau said the pangolins were believed to have been brought into Kelantan from other states several hours before they were seized.
"We believe the pangolins were being smuggled to Thailand separately through Bukit Kayu Hitam in Kedah and Rantau Panjang."
Ngau said pangolin flesh, popular as a delicacy and for its perceived "health benefits" could fetch up to RM350 and RM380 per kg on the black market.
He said the seizure in Bachok was the biggest over the past five years.
"One of the pangolins seized in Bachok is also the biggest seized by us so far. The male pangolin weighed 10kg."
The rare ant-eating animal feeds a mainly Asian market, where pangolins are eaten as delicacies and their scales sought after for various remedies.
Pangolin scales are made chiefly of keratin, a substance believed to have curative value in traditional Asian medicine despite scientific evidence to the contrary.
MMEA foils an attempt to smuggle pangolins out of Malaysia
The Star 4 Jun 12;
MALACCA: The authorities had foiled an attempt to smuggle 26 pangolins into the country through the sea.
Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) enforcement officers arrested two people and seized a sampan following a public tip-off.
MMEA officers intercepted a small vessel near Pulau Hanyut at Pengkalan Balak in Alor Gajah.
The enforcement team found 26 bags containing pangolins on the detained vessel.
Kuala Linggi MMEA chief Captain Abu Bakar Idris said the pangolins that are listed as endangered species had an estimated a street value of RM50,000.
The live animals, he added, were meant to exported elsewhere after arriving in the waters off Malacca.
“We have handed over the pangolins to the Department of Wildlife and National Parks (Perhilitan).”
The two men aged 40 and 41 who were detained by the MMEA enforcement officers could not produce any legal documents for the animals.
The case, said Capt Abu Bakar, is now being investigated under the Wildlife Conservation Act 1020 (Act 716) and the International Trade in Endangered Species Act 2008 (Act 686).
