sharanpal singh randhawa The Star 7 Nov 17;
BUKIT KAYU HITAM: An attempt to smuggle 55 live pangolins and 25kg of pangolin scales worth RM170,000 into Thailand has been foiled by the Kedah Border Control Agency (Aksem) on Tuesday.
The agency had also detained a 45-year-old Thai national.
State commander Abd Latif Abd Rahman said the man was asked to pull over his vehicle for a check around 2pm at KM1.3 of the North-South Expressway.
"Checks in the car boot saw some netted sacks which contained the pangolins and baby pangolins and five bags filled with pangolin scales.
"We believed that the pangolins were meant for the Thai market and could also be exported to China," he told a press conference here.
He added that the seized pangolins and the scales would be handed over to the state Department of Wildlife and National Parks for further action.
Malaysia rescues 140 pangolins from suspected smugglers
AFP Yahoo News 8 Nov 17;
Kuala Lumpur (AFP) - Dozens of live pangolins were seized from suspected traffickers close to Malaysia's border with Thailand, officials said Wednesday, thwarting the latest attempt to smuggle the critically endangered creatures.
The pangolins, the world's most heavily trafficked mammals, were recovered on Tuesday in two separate raids in the northern Malaysian state of Kedah.
Despite concerted efforts to clamp down on trafficking, the illegal pangolin trade remains a major problem.
Pangolins -- also known as scaly anteaters -- fetch a high price on the black market as their meat is prized as a delicacy and their body parts as ingredients in traditional medicine in some areas of Asia and Africa.
In the first incident on Tuesday, a Malaysian man was caught with 85 pangolins in the town of Changlun near the border with Thailand, Kedah wildlife chief Muhammad Ali Che Aman told AFP.
Later, Malaysian officials stopped a Thai man at a roadblock near a crossing into Thailand and found 55 sacks, each containing a live pangolin, and bags full of scales, said local border agency chief Abdul Latif Abdul Rahman.
Officials did not give an estimate for the value of the seized pangolins and scales.
Covered in tough, overlapping scales, Pangolins are indigenous to parts of Asia and Africa, and eat ants using pink, sticky tongues almost as long as their bodies.
Higher demand for pangolin meat as cold spell hits China
The Star 9 Nov 17;
ALOR SETAR: The number of pangolins smuggled to China increases when the weather there turns cold, according to the authorities.
Kedah Department of Wildlife and National Parks director Muhammad Ali Che Aman said many believe that exotic pangolin meat has medicinal value and keeps the body warm.
He said, however, that there was no scientific evidence to show pangolin meat has medicinal value.
He also said his department and the Kedah Border Security Agency seized 140 live pangolins and five sacks of pangolin scales, worth RM525,000 in two separate operations on Tuesday.
The men have been remanded for four days from yesterday.
Muhammad Ali said the smuggling of exotic animals such as pangolins will be on the rise as long as the demand is great.
“The returns are also high as pangolin meat could fetch between RM250 and RM300 per kg for overseas markets, and can even go up to five times higher.”
He also said the average weight of a pangolin is about 2.5kg.
“The pangolins are believed to have been smuggled in from Indonesia to Malaysia, then to Thailand before they are moved to their final destination in China,” he said.
Muhammad Ali added that Kedah was a favourite route for pangolins and other exotic animals, including the blackpond turtle, to be smuggled out as its highway leads directly to Bukit Kayu Hitam.
He said investigations revealed that runners for the syndicates smuggling the pangolins use luxury cars with tinted screens to evade the authorities.
“Often these runners would change their cars from point to point so that the authorities would not be able to keep track of the marked car.
“The pangolins would then be kept in a transit house before they are smuggled into Thailand,” he said.
Muhammad Ali added that the state has so far seen five cases, where 399 pangolins worth RM1.5mil were rescued.
Wildlife Dept rescues 85 Thailand-bound pangolins near border
sharanpal singh randhawa The Star 8 Nov 17;
ALOR SETAR: A total of 85 live pangolins worth an estimated RM350,000 were seized by the Kedah Department of Wildlife and National Parks on Tuesday.
Department director Muhammad Ali Che Aman said a raid was carried out at a house in Kampung Darat, Changloon, at 7.45am, where they found the animals.
He said that a 37-year-old Malaysian was arrested but two other Thai nationals – who left their passports behind – managed to escape.
