December 17, 2009
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) - Malaysian marine police said Thursday they had seized 62 pangolins, destined for cooking pots and medicine shops overseas, in a two-week operation.
Police in southern Johor state seized 31 live pangolins -- also known as scaly anteaters -- packed in blue sacks in the living room of a house and found another 31 frozen creatures in a freezer, marine police official Mohammad Naser Marzuke said.
"Following two weeks of monitoring, we trailed six suspects who were travelling in two cars and who then unloaded the live pangolins in the house," Mohammad Naser told AFP.
"However, by the time we reached them, their lookouts had alerted the group and they all fled, abandoning the cars and the pangolins," he said, adding that police were still on the lookout for the group.
"We have handed the pangolins over to the wildlife authorities as we continue our investigations."
Indigenous to the jungles of Indonesia and parts of Malaysia as well as southern Thailand, pangolins are considered a delicacy in China but are classified as a protected species under the UN's Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.
Wildlife officials have said pangolins face a serious threat from poachers and smugglers in Southeast Asia where inadequate enforcement and lack of information encourages the burgeoning trade.
