By Valentine Amanze, Online Editor
Nigerian Customs officials have intercepted and seized pangolin scales, tusks and bones from endangered species allegedly bound for export to Vietnam.
Customs Area Controller, Mohammed Abba-Kura, disclosed on Wednesday that the items, concealed in a container as furniture materials, were intercepted at Apapa port in Lagos on January 21, 2021.
He narrated: “Immediately the container was opened, logs were seen in front, and upon 100 percent physical examination of the container, elephant tusk and the pangolin scales were seen concealed by the logs.
“The items, falsely declared as furniture, comprised 162 sacks of pangolin scales… and 57 sacks of mixed endangered species of various sizes such as ivory/animal horns, lion bones and others.”
He also revealed that the total haul weighed 8,800 kilogrammes (19,400 pounds).
Abba-Kura said that the items were valued at N952 million ($2.5 million, 2.07 million euros) on the black market.
According to him, the consignment was heading to Haiphong, Vietnam before it was intercepted, adding that a suspect had been arrested over the shipment.
AFP had reported that Nigeria was major hub for traffickers sending the scales of African pangolins to Asia.
Recall that Nigeria has made huge seizures of illegal animal parts in recent years in line with the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).
Pangolins are believed to be the world’s most trafficked mammals, accounting for as much as 20 percent of all illegal wildlife trade.
Pangolin scales are traditionally used in China for a range of ailments, including treating blood clots, although there is no scientific evidence they have medicinal value.
Studies have also suggested that the pangolin might have been the intermediate host that transmitted the coronavirus (COVID-19) to humans when it first emerged at a wet market in the Chinese city of Wuhan in late 2019.
