MALAYSIA: Kuala Lumpur Intl Airport Proof Of Concept (POC) For Pre-clearance Of Hajj Pilgrims

Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) introduced world’s first proof of concept (POC) for pre-clearance of Hajj pilgrims.

This initiative is aimed at facilitating the arrivals of all pilgrims into KSA. Specifically, this initiative will eliminate the need for long queues by pilgrims at immigration points in KSA as experienced in the past providing them with more time for their ‘ibadah’.

This is an initiative led by the government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) under KSA Vision 2030.

The first POC event on August 24, 2017 was witnessed by the Deputy Minister of Transport Malaysia, Datuk Abdul Aziz Kaprawi.

KSA Immigration has been working closely with KSA-based ELM and Malaysia-based XYBASE to implement this POC phase where KLIA has been chosen as the pilot site.

The POC is planned for three days starting today involving the last three flights of LTH pilgrims beginning with Malaysia Airlines charter flight MH8146 carrying 287 pilgrims.

Malaysia Airports managing director Datuk Badlisham Ghazali says Malaysia Airports is delighted to be part of this milestone development. Apart from the fact that it is in line with our mission to ensure a joyful experience for our passengers, it is also part of a larger picture to establish KLIA as a regional hub.

Upon a successful POC, we expect that the live implementation will take place beginning 2018 and this will definitely make KLIA more attractive for pilgrims from around the region to depart from our airport.

The chairman of Lembaga Tabung Haji Datuk Seri Panglima Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim who was also present said We are very honoured to be involved in this pilot POC as it is a testament to our reputation in KSA as the best Hajj management organisation.

We are highly supportive of this initiative and hope that the live implementation will go ahead as planned in order to improve the efficiency of our Hajj operations and enhance the comfort of the pilgrims.”

All 287 pilgrims undergoing this POC phase will go through immigration clearance by KSA before boarding their flight in KLIA.

Upon their arrival at the Hajj Terminal King Abdulaziz International Airport, they will be escorted through a special lane without having to go through the normal immigration clearance there, saving them hours of waiting time.


Tourism Observer

MALAYSIA: Pangolin The World's Most Trafficked Mammal,Trafficked To Malaysia Then Vietnam And China

Last month, within a matter of days, alert customs officials at Kuala Lumpur’s international airport seized two giant hauls of pangolin scales, which had been flown in from Africa and weighed 712kg in total.

This month they discovered yet another giant haul of scales at an air cargo warehouse at KLIA. The scales, which weighted 288kg, had been flown in from Ghana and brought the total amount of scales seized within a month to more than a ton.

The scales had been packed into gunny sacks and stored in 12 boxes, which had been falsely labelled as oyster shells. They would have been worth 3.7 million ringgit ($870,000) on the black market. The Malaysian address given on the airway bill was fake.

And then, a few days later, officials at KLIA discovered yet another shipment of pangolin scales. This time the scales weighed 394kg. They, too, had originated in Accra in Ghana, just as previously.

To sum up: four large shipments of scales within a few short weeks.

These seizures of scales show that the mass slaughter of African pangolins continues unabated. Sadly there's little surprise in that.

Recently, TRAFFIC warned in a report that wildlife traffickers have been switching from Asian pangolins to African ones in an effort to meet unrelenting demand for pangolin scales in countries like Vietnam and China, where they are used for medicinal purposes even though pangolin scales have no known curative properties.

As much as four-fifths of scales that have been traded illegally since 2010 have come from African pangolins, TRAFFIC says.

The anti-poaching group has commended Malaysian authorities on their latest successes in seizing illegal shipments, but added that these same seizures prove that international wildlife trafficking syndicates remain unrelenting and continue to use the country as a transit point with impunity despite stepped-up efforts to eradicate wildlife trafficking.

Malaysian Customs has intercepted an alarming volume of wildlife contraband from Africa since April this year, and for this we congratulate them, Kanitha Krishnasamy, senior program manager for TRAFFIC in Southeast Asia, said.

However, multiple shipments comprising of rhino horns, pangolin scales and live Critically Endangered tortoises – all of them listed in CITES Appendix I – entering Malaysia signifies a very worrying pattern; that traffickers feel they can continuously move their contraband through the country.

Malaysian authorities must of course continue to remain perpetually vigilant, as we, too, have urged them on this site. Wildlife experts concur.

We hope this level of enforcement effort will continue, said Chris R. Shepherd, TRAFFIC's regional director in Southeast Asia.

More importantly, he added, investigative work at national and international levels needs to be stepped up to put the perpetrators behind these transactions out of business for good.

Nor is Malaysia the only country in the region where the trafficking of pangolins is endemic. Right about the same time Malaysian authorities discovered those large hauls of scales from Africa, their Indonesian counterparts managed to seize scores of the animals that were still alive, as well as a large amount of scales in nine large sacks.

They did so by raiding a warehouse near a port on Sumatra, where they found 223 live pangolins. Another 24 of the animals had already perished by then and were kept in a freezer so as to preserve their meat, which is prized as a delicacy by some people.

Make no mistake: Catering to that demand is a highly lucrative business. Poachers and traffickers can make a fortune selling the endangered animals. Larger shipments can fetch hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars on the international black market.

According to Indonesian officials, who arrested two local traffickers, the recently seized haul of pangolins and their scales were bound to be sent over to Malaysia, from where they would likely have been sent on to Vietnam or China.

That's why cross-border intelligence-sharing operations are vital if we are to roll back the extensive networks of wildlife trafficking, which have decimated species like pangolins worldwide.

Poachers and traffickers know no borders and act with brazen disregard for national and international laws. As a result, all eight subspecies of pangolins are now critically endangered and the animals have been dubbed the world's most trafficked mammal.

Their populations have declined by as much as 80% over the past few decades. Pangolins may appear invincible in their scaly armor, which can withstand the bites of predators like tigers, but they are defenseless against poachers' snares and weapons.

They are shy and retiring creatures that spend most of their time curled up in balls within their borrows. They come alive at night when they begin to forage for insects.

Poachers usually trap them by following their distinctive paw prints or by using dogs whose acute sense of smell can locate them with relative ease.

Each year an estimated 100,000 pangolins are poached and trafficked worldwide. Over the past decade as many as 1 million of them have been taken from the wild, driving their populations ever closer to the edge of extinction.

Pangolins once thrived across Asia and Africa and have survived for millions of years. Now they are at death's door in the wild everywhere. And that's simply because many people in countries like Vietnam, China and sadly even Malaysia fancy a bite of their meat or assume that their keratinous scales can cure them of certain ailments. A terrible shame, that.

Human greed and folly are an awful threat to pangolins.

MALAYSIA: 330 Tortoises From Madagascar Seized At Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA),

Another seizure of exotic animals smuggled surreptitiously into Malaysia. This time alert customs officials seized 330 tortoises flown into Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA), which has been serving as a favored destination for international smuggling syndicates.

Acting on a tip-off, Malaysian officials discovered 325 Indian radiated tortoises and five ploughshare tortoises packed into five boxes, which had been labelled as containing stones and registered with a fake business address in Selangor.

The reptiles, which had been wrapped in tissue and packed tightly into the boxes, managed to survive the ordeal. They would have been worth RM1.2 million ($277,000) on the black market. They had been flown into Malaysia on an Etihad Airways flight from Antanaviro Airport in Madagascar via Abu Dhabi.

Both radiated tortoises and ploughshare tortoises are highly sought as exotic pets despite being endangered and fully protected in Madagascar. All trade in them is prohibited by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

People found guilty of illegally importing the reptiles into Malaysia face a fine of up to 20 times the value of the smuggled items and three years in prison, or both.

We are very serious about tackling wildlife crime involving Malaysia, especially through KLIA, said Abdull Wahid Sulong, customs deputy director for Enforcement and Compliance. He has called on the public to provide information about the smugglers, who remain at large.

This seizure of the turtles comes hard on the heels of recent discoveries of large illegal shipments of rhino horns and pangolin scales flown into Malaysia via KLIA. It further highlights the need for Malaysian officials to remain vigilant with the country continuing to serve as a major trafficking hub into and out of Southeast Asia.

Conservationists have hailed the latest success in seizing illegally trafficked wildlife from smuggling rings, especially because in this case the trafficked animals are still alive.

The string of seizures certainly shows that Malaysian Customs means business and TRAFFIC is glad to see this action against organized criminal wildlife trafficking, said Kanitha Krishnasamy, senior program manager for TRAFFIC in Southeast Asia.

However, it’s worrying that shipments headed for Southeast Asia from Africa via the Middle East are only detected in the region: it clearly points towards the need for greater scrutiny at airports both at points of origin and at transit points such as Doha, Dubai and Abu Dhabi, she added.

This is the third time this year, TRAFFIC notes, that Malaysia has been linked to a seizure of critically endangered ploughshare tortoises. Last week a Malaysian man was caught at Taoyuan International Airport in Taiwan for attempting to smuggle three Ploughshare Tortoises from Malaysia into Taiwan.

In March, a Plougshare Tortoise was among other species discovered in Taiwan in a shipment of shoes from Penang, Malaysia," the nonprofit explains.

In 2015, Malagasy Customs seized over 700 Radiated and Ploughshare Tortoises bound for Malaysia, it adds. In 2010, Malaysian authorities sentenced two Malagasy women to a year in jail for trafficking 369 Radiated and five Plougshare Tortoises into the country and just a month prior to that foiled an attempt to smuggle 285 Radiated Tortoises into the country in suitcases that also contained drugs.

Sadly, widespread trafficking in one of the world’s rarest reptiles indicates that there remains a thriving black market in these tortoises as well as other endangered animals within Malaysia.

We can all do our part to stop that by rolling back demand at source for these endangered animals. Report any sign of trafficking and educate exotic animal enthusiasts about the need to stop buying endangered animals.

MALAYSIA: Malaysia Customs Impounds Smuggled Tortoises Enroute From Madagascar, Worth $300,000

Malaysian customs foiled an attempt to smuggle hundreds of the world's most endangered tortoises into the country from Madagascar, a senior official said Monday.

The 330 ploughshare and radiated tortoises seized at Kuala Lumpur International Airport Sunday were worth $276,784, Abdul Wahid Sulong, deputy director of the customs department said.

All of the reptiles were found alive, he added.

"It is a big haul. It could be for the local market or for re-export. We are investigating," the enforcement agency said in a statement.

"Based on public tip-off, customs officials raided the cargo area of the airport and found five suspicious crates," the statement added.

"It had arrived at KLIA on an Etihad Airways flight from Antananarivo airport in Madagascar."

The golden-domed ploughshare tortoise is native to Madagascar and due to poaching is the most endangered tortoise on the planet.

Madagascar's radiated tortoise considered one of the most beautiful species of the animal is also rapidly nearing extinction due to rampant hunting for its meat and the illegal pet trade.

Abdul Wahid said the contents of the crates were labelled as stones and the address of the recipient was found to be false.

Malaysia bans the import of critically endangered animals. Anyone found guilty of the offence can be jailed for up to three years and fined.

Elizabeth John, senior communications officer of the Wildlife Trade Monitoring Network (Traffic), said the tortoise haul followed on the heels of other busts of animal products originating from Africa, including rhino horn and pangolin scales.

"With the string of recent seizures of wildlife from Africa, Malaysian enforcement agencies are sending a strong warning to smugglers that they mean business," she said.

John said the routes used by traffickers in recent cases point to a need for greater scrutiny of airports in the Middle East

The radiated tortoise (Astrochelys radiata) is a species in the family Testudinidae. Although this species is native to and most abundant in southern Madagascar, it can also be found in the rest of this island, and has been introduced to the islands of Réunion and Mauritius.

It is a very long-lived species, with recorded lifespans of at least 188 years. These tortoises are classified as Critically Endangered by the IUCN, mainly because of the destruction of their habitat and because of poaching.

Growing to a carapace length of up to 16 in (41 cm) and weighing up to 35 lb (16 kg), the radiated tortoise is considered to be one of the world's most beautiful tortoises.

This tortoise has the basic "tortoise" body shape, which consists of the high-domed carapace, a blunt head, and elephantine feet. The legs, feet, and head are yellow except for a variably sized black patch on top of the head.

The carapace of the radiated tortoise is brilliantly marked with yellow lines radiating from the center of each dark plate of the shell, hence its name. This "star" pattern is more finely detailed and intricate than the normal pattern of other star-patterned tortoise species, such as G. elegans of India.

The radiated tortoise is also larger than G. elegans, and the scutes of the carapace are smooth, and not raised up into a bumpy, pyramidal shape as is commonly seen in the latter species. There is slight sexual dimorphism. Compared to females, male radiated tortoises usually have longer tails and the notches beneath their tails are more noticeable.

The species is very long-lived. The oldest radiated tortoise ever recorded with certainty was Tu'i Malila, which died at an estimated age of 188.A tortoise named Adwaita is widely believed to have been even older at its death in 2006.

Radiated tortoises occur naturally only in the extreme southern and southwestern part of the island of Madagascar. They have also been introduced to the nearby island of Reunion. They prefer dry regions of brush, thorn (Diderae) forests, and woodlands of southern Madagascar.

As the radiated tortoises are herbivores, grazing constitutes 80–90% of their diets, while they also eat fruits and succulent plants. A favorite food in the wild is the Opuntia cactus.

They are known to graze regularly in the same area, thus keeping the vegetation in that area closely trimmed. They seem to prefer new growth rather than mature growth because of the high-protein, low-fiber content.

Males first mate upon attaining lengths of about 12 in (31 cm); females may need to be a few inches longer. The male begins this fairly noisy procedure by bobbing his head and smelling the female's hind legs and cloaca.

In some cases, the male may lift the female up with the front edge of his shell to keep her from moving away.

The male then proceeds to mount the female from the rear while striking the anal region of his plastron against the female’s carapace. Hissing and grunting by the male during mating is common.

This is a very dangerous procedure and cases have been recorded where the female's shell has cracked and pierced the vaginal and anal cavities. Females lay from three to 12 eggs in a previously excavated hole 6-8 in (15–20 cm) deep, and then depart.

Incubation is quite long in this species, lasting usually between five and eight months. Juveniles are between 1.25 and 1.6 inches (3.2 to 4 cm) upon hatching. Unlike the yellow coloration of the adults, the juveniles are a white to an off-white shade. Juveniles attain the high-domed carapace soon after hatching.

These tortoises are critically endangered due to habitat loss, being poached for food, and being over exploited in the pet trade. It is listed on CITES Appendix I, commercial trade in wild-caught specimens is illegal,permitted only in exceptional licensed circumstances.

However, due to the poor economic conditions of Madagascar, many of the laws are largely ignored.

No estimates of wild populations are available, but their numbers are declining, and many authorities see the potential for a rapid decline to extinction in the wild. In the North American studbook, 332 specimens are listed as participating in captive-breeding programs such as the Species Survival Plan.

Captive breeding has shown great promise as in the captive breeding program for the radiated tortoise at the New York Zoological Society's Wildlife Survival Center. In 2005, the Wildlife Survival Center was closed,and the radiated tortoise captive-breeding program was continued with the inception of the Behler Chelonian Center.

In March 2013, smugglers were arrested after carrying a single bag containing 21 radiated tortoises and 54 angonoka tortoises (Astrochelys yniphora) through Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Thailand.

On 20 March 2016, the Custom officials at Mumbai airport seized 146 tortoises from a mishandled baggage of a Nepal citizen. This bag was said to belong to a transit passenger, who arrived from Madagascar and flew to Kathmandu leaving this bag behind.

Out of the 146 tortoises, 139 were Radiated tortoises (Astrochelys radiata) and seven were angonoka tortoises (Astrochelys yniphora), both critically endangered tortoise species of Madagascar. Two radiated tortoises were found dead with broken shell.

On 12 June 2016, it was reported that 72 radiated tortoises and 6 angonoka tortoises had gone missing from a breeding facility in Thailand.

MALAYSIA: African Pangolin Scales Worth $2.1 Million Imponded At Kuala Lumpur International Airport

A giant Haul of Pangolin Scales from Africa has been Seized at KLIA

Alert customs officials, acting on a tip-off at Kuala Lumpur's international airport, made a sad discovery: a large haul of pangolin scales. Stuffed in 18 gunny sacks were the scales of an estimated 1,400 African pangolins.

The haul, which weighed 712kg, would have been worth more than RM9 million ($2 million) on the black market.

The scales had been flown from Africa in two separate shipments: one from Accra, Ghana, via Dubai; the other from Kinshaha, Congo, via Nairobi, Kenya, and then Dubai.

The scales were likely destined for Vietnam or China, where many locals continue to ascribe curative properties to the scales of these gentile animals, which have been dubbed "the world's most trafficked mammal."

Think about that: another 1,400 pangolins are dead just so that some people can continue indulging in the fantasy that these scales can cure a variety of ailments. And they are willing to shell out minor fortunes for the scales, a fact that continues to drive a booming illegal trade in the scales of pangolins.

On the Malaysian black market the scales are worth up to 1,500 ringgit ($346) per kilo, but they can fetch far more in China and Vietnam.

Quite a waste of money that since pangolin scales contain nothing but keratin, the same substance found in human hair and fingernails. People might as well be chewing those for the exact same health benefits: none, that is.

Yet inane atavistic beliefs are driving all the eight subspecies of pangolins into extinction in the wild: the four Asian pangolins (the Indian, Philippine, Sunda, and Chinese) and the four African ones (giant, tree, ground, long-tailed).

Over the past decade, an estimate 1 million pangolins have been killed from Africa to Asia for their scales, as well as their meat, which is prized by some people as an "exotic dish" in Vietnam and China, and sadly Malaysia.

Malaysia's Customs Act 1967 prescribes a maximum of three years in prison and a hefty fine for people found to have been smuggling pangolin scales into or out of the country. Meanwhile, CITES has recently banned all international trade in pangolins and their parts in a bid to save them from extinction before it's too late.

Three cheers to Malaysian officials for being alert and seizing the illegal shipments of pangolin scales from Africa. May they remain ever vigilant.

Malaysian authorities said Monday they have seized pangolin scales worth 9.2 million ringgit ($2.1 million) and believed to have been smuggled from Africa.

Deputy customs director Paddy Abdul Halim says officers made two seizures last week at the Kuala Lumpur airport cargo warehouse based on a tip.

On May 2, officers seized eight bags of pangolin scales weighing 408 kilograms that were flown from Ghana and transited in Dubai before arriving at the Kuala Lumpur airport on May 1. Two days later, they found another 10 bags weighing 304 kilograms that originated from Kinshaha, Congo, flown to Nairobi in Kenya and transited in Dubai before arriving in Malaysia on May 2.

The consignments were declared as general products and dry herbs, with fake final destinations, he said.

No arrests were made. Paddy said the case is being investigated for smuggling of prohibited goods.

Eight species of pangolin, or scaly anteater, live in Asia and Africa and are targeted for their scales and meat. More than 1 million have been poached in the past decade, threatening the creature with extinction, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature.

In Vietnam and some parts of China, pangolin meat is considered a delicacy, while its scales of keratin, the protein also found in fingernails and rhino horn, are widely used in traditional Chinese medicine. The demand is causing rampant poaching that is decimating the pangolin population.

Pangolins are mammals of the order Pholidota. The one extant family, Manidae, has three genera: Manis, which comprises four species living in Asia, Phataginus, which comprises two species living in Africa, and Smutsia, which comprises two species also living in Africa. These species range in size from 30 to 100 cm (12 to 39 in). A number of extinct pangolin species are also known.

Pangolins have large, protective keratin scales covering their skin, and they are the only known mammals with this feature. They live in hollow trees or burrows, depending on the species. Pangolins are nocturnal, and their diet consists of mainly ants and termites which they capture using their long tongues.

They tend to be solitary animals, meeting only to mate and produce a litter of one to three offspring which are raised for about two years. Pangolins are threatened by hunting for their meat and scales and heavy deforestation of their natural habitats, and are the most trafficked mammals in the world.

Of the eight species of pangolin, four (Phataginus tetradactyla, P. tricuspis, Smutsia gigantea, and S. temminckii) are listed as vulnerable, two (Manis crassicaudata and M. culionensis) are listed as endangered, and two (M. pentadactyla and M. javanica) are listed as critically endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species.

The name "pangolin" comes from the Malay word pengguling, meaning "one who rolls up".However, the modern name in Standard Malay is "tenggiling", whereas in Indonesian it is "trenggiling".

The physical appearance of a pangolin is marked by large, hardened, overlapping plate-like scales, which are soft on newborn pangolins, but harden as the animal matures. They are made of keratin, the same material of which human fingernails and tetrapod claws are made.

The pangolin's scaled body is comparable to a pine cone or globe artichoke. It can curl up into a ball when threatened, with its overlapping scales acting as armor, while it protects its face by tucking it under its tail. The scales are sharp, providing extra defense from predators.

Pangolins can also emit a noxious-smelling chemical from glands near the anus, similar to the spray of a skunk. They have short legs, with sharp claws which they use for burrowing into termite and ant mounds, as well as climbing.

The tongues of pangolins are extremely long like those of the giant anteater and the tube-lipped nectar bat; the root of the tongue is not attached to their hyoid bone, but is located in the thorax between the sternum and the trachea. Large pangolins can extend their tongues as much as 40 cm (16 in), with a diameter of only 0.5 cm (0.20 in).

Most pangolins are nocturnal animals that use their well-developed sense of smell to find insects. The long-tailed pangolin is also active by day, while other species of pangolins spend most of the daytime sleeping, curled up into a ball.

Arboreal pangolins live in hollow trees, whereas the ground-dwelling species dig tunnels underground, to a depth of 3.5 m (11 ft).

Some pangolins walk with their front claws bent under the foot pad, although they use the entire foot pad on their rear limbs. Furthermore, some exhibit a bipedal stance for some behaviors and may walk a few steps bipedally. Pangolins are also good swimmers.

Pangolins are insectivorous. Most of their diet consists of various species of ants and termites and may be supplemented by other insects, especially larvae. They are somewhat particular and tend to consume only one or two species of insects, even when many species are available to them. A pangolin can consume 140 to 200 gm of insects per day.

Pangolins have a very poor sense of vision, so they rely heavily on smell and hearing. They use their powerful front claws to dig into trees, ground, and vegetation to find prey, then proceed to use their long tongues to probe inside the insect tunnels and retrieve their prey.

Pangolins lack teeth, so also lack the ability to chew; however, while foraging, they ingest small stones which accumulate in their stomachs to help to grind up ants.

Some species, such as the tree pangolin, use their strong, prehensile tails to hang from tree branches and strip away bark from the trunk, exposing insect nests inside.

Pangolins are solitary and meet only to mate. Males are larger than females, weighing up to 40% more. While mating season is defined, they typically mate once each year, usually during the summer or autumn.

Rather than the males seeking out the females, males mark their location with urine or feces and the females will find them. If there is competition over a female, the males will use their tails as clubs to fight for the opportunity to mate with her.

Gestation periods differ by species, ranging from roughly 70 to 140 days. African pangolin females usually give birth to a single offspring at a time, but the Asiatic species may give birth from one to three. Weight at birth is 80 to 450 g (2.8 to 15.9 oz) and the average length is 150 mm (5.9 in). At the time of birth, the scales are soft and white.

After several days, they harden and darken to resemble those of an adult pangolin. During the vulnerable stage, the mother stays with her offspring in the burrow, nursing it, and wraps her body around it if she senses danger. The young cling to the mother's tail as she moves about, although in burrowing species, they remain in the burrow for the first two to four weeks of life.

At one month, they first leave the burrow riding on the mother's back. Weaning takes place around three months of age, at which stage the young begin to eat insects in addition to nursing. At two years of age, the offspring are sexually mature and are abandoned by the mother.

Pangolins are hunted and eaten in many parts of Africa and are one of the more popular types of bush meat, while local healers use the pangolin as a source of traditional medicine. They are also in great demand in southern China and Vietnam because their meat is considered a delicacy and some believe that pangolin scales have medicinal qualities.

Over the past decade, over one million pangolins are believed to have been illegally trafficked, making it the most trafficked animal in the world.This, coupled with deforestation, has led to a large decrease in the numbers of pangolins. Some species, such as Manis pentadactyla have become commercially extinct in certain ranges as a result of overhunting.

In November 2010, pangolins were added to the Zoological Society of London's list of genetically distinct and endangered mammals. All eight species of pangolin are classified by the IUCN as threatened to extinction, while two are classified as critically endangered.

Though pangolins are protected by an international ban on their trade, populations have suffered from illegal trafficking due to unfounded beliefs in East Asia that their ground-up scales can stimulate lactation or cure cancer or asthma.In the past decade, numerous seizures of illegally trafficked pangolin and pangolin meat have taken place in Asia.

In one such incident in April 2013, 10,000 kg (11 short tons) of pangolin meat were seized from a Chinese vessel that ran aground in the Philippines. In another case in August 2016, an Indonesian man was arrested after police raided his home and found over 650 pangolins in freezers on his property.

As a result of increasing threats to pangolins, mainly in the form of illegal, international trade in pangolin skin, scales, and meat, these species have received increasing conservation attention in recent years. For example, in 2014, the IUCN recategorised all eight species of pangolin on its Red List of Threatened Species, and each species is now properly listed as being threatened with extinction.

Also, the IUCN SSC Pangolin Specialist Group launched a global action plan to conserve pangolins, dubbed Scaling up Pangolin Conservation in July 2014. This action plan aims to improve all aspects of pangolin conservation with an added emphasis on combating poaching and trafficking of the animal, while educating communities in its importance.

Many attempts have been made to reproduce pangolins in captivity, but due to their reliance on wide-ranging habitats and very particular diets, these attempts are often unsuccessful. They are susceptible to diseases such as pneumonia and the development of ulcers in captivity, complications which can lead to an early death.

In addition, pangolins rescued from illegal trade often have a higher chance of being infected with parasites such as intestinal worms, further lessening their chance for rehabilitation and reintroduction to the wild.Recently, researchers have been able to improve artificial pangolin habitats to allow for reproduction of pangolins, providing some hope for future reintroduction of these species into their natural habitats.

Pangolins were formerly classified with various other orders, for example Xenarthra, which includes the ordinary anteaters, sloths, and the similar-looking armadillos. Newer genetic evidence, however, indicates their closest living relatives are the Carnivora with which they form the clade Ferae.

Some palaeontologists placed Ernanodonta in a separate suborder of Cimolesta near Pholidota, have classified the pangolins in the order Cimolesta, together with several extinct groups indicated (†) below, though this idea has fallen out of favor since cimolestids have been determined to have not been placental mammals.A recent study has supported close affinities between pangolins and the extinct groups Creodonta, Oxyaenidae and Hyaenodonta.

Until recently, all species of living pangolin had been assigned to the genus Manis. Recent research has supported the splitting of extant pangolins into three genera: Manis, Phataginus, and Smutsia.

MALAYSIA: Rhino Horn Smuggling Continues

Rhino Horns continue to be Smuggled into Malaysia and Southeast Asia.

The shipment this time was from Mozambique, via Doha in Qatar, and consisted of 18 rhino horns. Alert Malaysian authorities at Kuala Lumpur International Airport managed to seize the horns, which amounted to 51.5kg and would have been worth almost RM14 million on the black market.

Acting on a tip, Malaysian customs officers conducted a search of the cargo warehouse of the airport’s Free Trade Zone, where they discovered the horns packed into a small crate.

The crate had been enclosed inside a cardboard carton that was supposed to contain artworks.

Nor has this find of illegally smuggled rhino horns been the first in recent weeks in Southeast Asia. Since March 8, five other shipments of illegally traded rhino horns have been found with a combined total of 103 horns, which weighed at least 235kg in all.

In Hong Kong alone, three other shipments of illicit rhino horns were seized: two of them had been dispatched from Mozambique. Authorities in Thailand and Vietnam, too, have discovered similar shipments over the same time period.

Thousands of white rhinos are killed ruthlessly for their horns, which are nothing but protrusions of keratin.

The scale of the trafficking underlines the "illegal trade’s continued onslaught on rhinos" in Africa and Asia, TRAFFIC said in a statement. “Traffickers are varying their routes to avoid detection and this case clearly points to the need for vigilance throughout Southeast Asia,’’ said Kanitha Krishnasamy, senior program manager for TRAFFIC in Southeast Asia.

In Malaysia itself, a domestic market for the sale of rhino horns is almost nonexistent but the country continues to serve as a regional hub for wildlife traffickers seeking to smuggle in rhino horns, elephant tusks and other prohibited items from Africa and elsewhere.

"Our rich biodiversity makes us a natural target for those seeking to get their hands on highly sought after wildlife or their parts, such as tigers, pangolins and bears," Krishnasamy explained.

TRAFFIC says that its analysis of ivory seizures from 2003–2014 "showed that at least 23 rhino horns were mixed in three of the 66 shipments of elephant ivory that implicated Malaysia as part of their trade chain." That is why, it adds, seizures "are an indispensable step when banned goods have already entered a trade chain," the group says.

"These recent seizures across Southeast Asia point to a ‘busy’ trafficking period and we hope that law enforcement agencies in the region collaborate to fight this crime in an effective and united manner.”

MALAYSIA: Kim Jong-Nam Suspected Killers Arrainged In Court

Two women accused of assassinating the half-brother of North Korea's leader appeared in a Malaysian court on Thursday ahead of a murder trial that could see them hanged.

Indonesian Siti Aisyah, 25, and Doan Thi Huong, 28, from Vietnam, were taken in bulletproof vests to a heavily guarded magistrate's court close to the airport where Kim Jong-Nam was fatally poisoned two months ago.

Police accuse the pair of having wiped the banned nerve agent VX on Kim's face at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on February 13 as he was about to board a flight to Macau, where he was living in exile.

Rival South Korea accuses the North of masterminding the killing of Kim, the estranged half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un. Pyongyang denies the accusation, insisting he died of a heart attack.

In a brief hearing, the women were ordered to appear before the court on May 30 as state prosecutors sought more time to prepare their case. The pair did not enter a plea.

Doan's lawyer asked the court to alter the murder charge since prosecutors have not identified four people mentioned in charge documents as accomplices to the women, but the judge did not entertain the request.

About 100 police officers, include commandos in balaclavas and carrying assault rifles, guarded the court compound during the women's appearance.

Dressed in a red top and blue jeans, Siti kept her head down throughout the hearing. Doang, also casually dressed, quietly observed the court proceedings.

The case is due to be transferred to an upper court where the women will be tried for murder. If convicted, they could face the death penalty, which is carried out by hanging in Malaysia.

The killing sparked a diplomatic crisis between Malaysia and North Korea which saw both countries banning each other's citizens from leaving and withdrawing their ambassadors.

The travel ban was lifted in late March after a deal was struck involving the return of Kim's body to North Korea.

Police are still looking for four North Korean men who are suspected to have taken part in the murder plot, but are believed to have returned to Pyongyang.

Three other North Koreans earlier described as "persons of interest", including a diplomat based in Malaysia, have been allowed to return home under the deal.

Indonesian officials have maintained that Siti was duped into believing she was taking part in pranks for a TV show, while Doan's family said she was invited to Malaysia to be an actress.

Tran Huy Hoang, a young Vietnamese man who attended the hearing and described himself as a cousin of Doan, said She loves to travel and party but she never do anything violent.

MALAYSIA: Kim Jong-nam Murdered At Kuala Lumpur International Airport

North Korea has tried to block an autopsy of Kim Jong-Un's assassinated half-brother after ordering Malaysia to hand over his body, it emerged today.

Kim Jong-Nam was reportedly killed by two female Pyongyang operatives who grabbed him from behind and poisoned him at Kuala Lumpur International Airport on Monday.

Stooges from Kim Jong-Un's North Korean embassy were seen in a car with blacked-out windows outside the city morgue where his body was taken - and waited there so long they eventually ordered a KFC meal, it has been claimed.

Officials including North Korea's ambassador, Kang Chol, spent hours failing to convince Malaysian authorities to hand over the body and their demands to stop the autopsy being performed were also ignored.

Police probing the death this morning arrested a woman posing as a Vietnamese national calling herself Doan Thi Huong.

They swooped after recognising her from CCTV footage from the airport of a woman in a white shirt with LOL written on the front. She is believed to be a North Korean spy.

But police are still hunting a 'few' other foreign suspects over the Cold War-style poison attack on Jong-nam on Monday morning, it has emerged.

Grainy pictures purportedly show the woman standing at the terminal waiting for a taxi.

Earlier reports suggested Jong-nam was targeted by two suspected female North Korean operatives who apparently attacked him from behind with poison spray.

The 46-year-old, who had branded his younger brother's regime a 'joke', was allegedly poisoned while waiting for a flight and died on his way to hospital.

There were claims he had been attacked by two women – suspected North Korean agents – who sprayed a toxic chemical in his face.

The assassination, which came as North Korea readied to celebrate the birthday this week of the two men's father, illustrates the 'brutal and inhumane' nature of the Pyongyang regime led by Kim Jong-Un, Seoul said.

The head of the NIS, the South Korean equivalent of the CIA, told parliament today that North Korea had been plotting to kill Kim since at least 2012 and that Kim Jong-un was paranoid about his half-brother.

He said: 'After Kim Jong-un came to power, he gave a standing order that Kim Jong-nam had to be taken care of, at all costs.'

And there were reports today that the North may have acted now amid fears Jong-Nam was plotting to defect to the South having served, in the 2000s, as a middleman between disgraced current South Korean President Park Geun-hye and officials in Pyongyang.

Some reports have suggested the assassins held a cloth doused in chemicals in his face and burned his eyes, or stabbed him with a poisoned needle. US sources said a fountain pen may have been used to spray the poison.

This morning it was reported that the taxi driver who transported the women away from the airport has been arrested. He is said to have told police that one of the women was Vietnamese.

The half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un pleaded for his life to be spared after a failed assassination bid in 2012, lawmakers briefed by Seoul's spy chief said today.

Jong-Nam, the eldest son of the late former leader Kim Jong-Il, was once seen as heir apparent but fell out of favour following an embarrassing botched bid in 2001 to enter Japan on a forged passport and visit Disneyland.

He has since lived in virtual exile, mainly in the Chinese territory of Macau, while Jong-Un took over the isolated, nuclear-armed state after the death of his father in December 2011.

The North in 2012 tried to assassinate Jong-Nam - known to be a supporter of reform in Pyongyang - Seoul lawmakers said following a closed-door briefing by the chief of the National Intelligence Service, Lee Byung-Ho.

'According to (Lee)... there was one (assassination) bid in 2012, and Jong-Nam in April 2012 sent a letter to Jong-Un saying 'Please spare me and my family,'' Kim Byung-Kee, a member of the parliamentary intelligence committee, told reporters.

'It also said "We have nowhere to go... we know that the only way to escape is suicide",' he said, adding Jong-Nam had little political support at home and posed little threat to Jong-Un.

Jong-Nam's family - his former and current wives and three children - are currently living in Beijing and Macau, said another committee member, Lee Cheol-Woo.

'They are under the protection by the Chinese authorities,' he said, adding Jong-Nam had entered Malaysia on February 6, a week before his death.

Jong-Nam's murder is the highest-profile death under the Kim Jong-Un's regime since the execution of the leader's uncle, Jang Song-Thaek, in December 2013.

Jang, known to be close to China and an advocate of economic reform in the North, was charged with treason.

Jong-Nam, believed to have ties with Beijing's elite, was a relatively outspoken figure, publicly criticising Pyongyang's political system.

The 45-year-old said he 'personally opposed' the hereditary power transfer in his own family, during an interview with Japan's Asahi TV in 2010.

One of his sons - Han-Sol - also described his uncle, Jong-Un, as a 'dictator' in a rare interview with a Finnish TV station in 2012 while he was studying in Europe.

The mystery woman captured on CCTV, with shoulder-length hair, was heavily made up, wearing a handbag with a long strap over her left shoulder.

The image, released by the Malay Mail is believed to have been taken outside a secondary terminal at Kuala Lumpur International Airport from which regional flights come and go.

The apparent hit follows previous botched attempts to kill Jong-nam, 45, who was estranged from his 33-year-old brother and regarded as a potential threat to his leadership.

It also comes days after international condemnation of North Korea's latest missile test.

The agents are said to have attacked Jong-nam on Monday after taking advantage of a security loophole between his bodyguards and local police, which left him momentarily unguarded at Kuala Lumpur airport.

'The deceased ... felt like someone grabbed or held his face from behind ... he felt dizzy,' Malaysian police official Fadzil Ahmat said.

'So far there are no suspects, but we have started investigations and are looking at a few possibilities to get leads.'

He said a post-mortem examination would be carried out, adding: 'We don't know if there was a cloth or needles.'

It looks like a perfectly staged assassination, straight out of the pages of a spy novel: North Korean royalty Kim Jong Nam, the estranged, exiled half-brother of leader Kim Jong Un, falls ill at a Malaysian airport, complains of being sprayed with some sort of chemical, and drops dead.

But, as with many things about the alleged motives of cloistered North Korea, the unknowns currently far outweigh the certainties.

A look at what officials are trying to piece together as they work to reconstruct one of the most audacious, mysterious assassinations in recent Asian history

Kim Jong Nam, a jovial, overweight gambler and playboy, had embarrassed Pyongyang before - he tried to sneak into Tokyo Disney; he criticized his half-brother - but he's been generally seen more as an annoyance than an existential threat to North Korea's stability.

Why would Kim Jong Un go through the massive logistical trouble - and potential embarrassment - of staging the risky assassination of a blood relation on foreign soil?

Without elaborating, South Korea's spy service told lawmakers Wednesday that the North had been trying to kill Kim Jong Nam for five years. Spy officials offered a single, shaky motive for the death: Kim Jong Un's "paranoia" over his estranged brother.

But the South's National Intelligence Service has a long history of botching intelligence on North Korea and has long sought to portray the North's leadership as mentally unstable.

Some in Seoul wonder if Kim Jong Un might have become enraged when a South Korean newspaper reported last week that Kim Jong Nam tried to defect to the South in 2012. South Korea's spy service denied this, but it's still an open question: Could public speculation that a member of the exalted Kim dynasty wanted to flee to the hated South have pushed Kim Jong Un to order his brother's assassination?

There would seem to be easier, less public places to kill such a high-profile target.

A possible explanation might be found in another nugget provided by South Korea's spy agency: China had long protected Kim Jong Nam and his family in their home base of Macau. Analysts have seen Beijing as looking to Kim Jong Nam as a potential leader should North Korea's regime collapse.

With security, presumably overseen by China, tight in Macau, could there have been a security gap in Malaysia that offered North Korean assassins an opportunity they couldn't have gotten elsewhere?

The details of the attack itself are a tangled mess as of now.

Kim told medical workers that he'd been sprayed with a chemical, which brings to mind past attacks with poison-tipped pens linked to North Korean assassins.

South Korea's spy agency says two women believed to be North Korean agents attacked Kim. They then reportedly fled. Japanese media quoted the government in Tokyo as saying those women may now be dead. None of this has been confirmed yet.

Still, finding out who these women are and who hired them could go a long way to unlocking the mystery.

North Korea has said nothing officially about the death, but that's not unusual. The country's propaganda specialists are masters at reporting only details that lionize the Kim family as paragons of virtue. This clearly doesn't do that.

China may be angry at the killing of a close North Korean contact, so there could be some sort of reaction, possibly back-channel, from Beijing.

But a more concrete punishment could come from Washington.

Cheong Seong-Chang, a South Korean analyst, said the assassination might convince the U.S. Congress to relist North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism, further isolating the already widely shunned country.

North Korean government officials are said to have demanded the body, but Malaysian police say a local post-mortem examination must be carried out first.

There is heavy security at Putrajaya Hospital today where witnesses say they saw a mortuary vehicle being escorted by up to four police cars just before 9am today.

More than a hundred journalists outside have been denied access and are having their questions ignored, it has been reported.

However, it has been confirmed that the body is going to be moved for autopsy, which will take place in heavy security at the large Hospital Kuala Lumpur (HKL).

An unnamed hospital staff member at Putrajaya is quoted as saying: 'Specialists said that Putrajaya Hospital is not adapted for an autopsy and that Kim Jong-nam's body is being moved to HKL, which is more spacious and has better facilities.'

Witnesses said they saw three vehicles from the North Korean embassy at HKL.

Local police chief Abu Samah Mat said Jong-nam went to the airport clinic complaining that he had been sprayed with a liquid, and died on his way to Putrajaya Hospital south of the capital.

In Pyongyang, celebrations had begun for Thursday's anniversary of the birth of Kim Jong-Il, Jong-Nam's father, with no mention of the killing.

Around 3,000 uniformed government officials and women in traditional dresses gathered for an ice skating gala featuring North Korean and foreign skaters. Banners proclaiming 'peace', 'independence' and 'friendship' hung in the venue.

Would-be North Korean assassins have been caught with poisoned needles in the past – which can be hidden inside pens – and an anonymous US official said a similar device could not be ruled out.

South Korea's foreign ministry could not confirm the allegations last night, and several previous reports of executions involving supposed enemies of the North Korean state have proved unreliable.

Jong-nam was the eldest son of former leader Kim Jong-il from his affair with South Korean-born actress Song Hye-rim.

He was once seen as heir apparent but fell out of favour after an embarrassing failed attempt in 2001 to visit Tokyo Disneyland on a forged passport.

Jong-nam has since lived in virtual exile, mainly in the Chinese territory of Macau, as well as Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and France.

A failed attempt to sneak into Japan to visit Disneyland in 2001 may have doomed the leadership dreams of the half-brother of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, who was assassinated this week in an airport in Malaysia.

Banished from his dictator father's favour, the exiled Kim Jong Nam frequented casinos, five-star hotels and travelled around Asia, with little say in North Korean affairs.

That ended on Monday when he was killed in the Kuala Lumpur International Airport. Officials in South Korea say they believe the attack was carried out by North Korean agents.

Despite multiple reported assassination attempts over the years, Kim Jong Nam was still a member of the most important family in North Korea, a direct blood descendent of North Korea founder Kim Il Sung.

Estranged for years from his relatives, the 45-year-old gambler and playboy played a key, if complicated role in the dynasty that has ruled for three generations since North Korea's foundation in 1948.

Kim Jong Nam is the eldest son of Kim Jong Il, the second member of the Kim family to rule North Korea. Kim Jong Il had three known sons with two different women. Jong Nam was born from his father's unofficial relationship with North Korean actress Sung Hae Rim.

Kim Jong Il forced Sung to divorce her first husband and live with him, but Kim Il Sung - the first leader of North Korea and Kim Jong Il's father - never accepted Sung as his daughter-in-law. Kim Jong Il reportedly kept Kim Jong Nam's 1971 birth a secret from his father for several years. Sung was reportedly forced to leave North Korea and died in Moscow in 2002.

Despite his mother's exile, some foreign experts believed that Kim Jong Nam would end up inheriting power because of a traditional Korean value system that favors the eldest son as heir.

Unlike his mother, Kim Jong Nam eventually won the affection of his grandfather, who died in 1994, according to South Korean media reports.

Kim Jong Nam's two younger brothers share a mother: Kim Jong Il's Japan-born mistress, the dancer Ko Yong Hui.

Ko's links to Japan, which colonized the Korean Peninsula in the early part of the 20th century, led some to believe that Kim Jong Nam would outpace his siblings in the succession race. Ko immigrated to North Korea in the 1960s from Japan, where she had lived among the ethnic Korean minority. She died in Paris in 2004.

Kim Jong Un eventually won the succession race and became the North's supreme leader in late 2011 upon the death of his father. Believed to be in his early 30s, Kim Jong Un has carried out a series of high-profile executions and purges, and outside experts say few can now challenge his rule.

Kim Jong Nam's other half-brother, Kim Jong Chol, was once viewed by some outsiders as a potential candidate for leader. But a former sushi chef of Kim Jong Il said the late leader derided the middle son, known as a huge fan of rock guitarist Eric Clapton, as 'girlish.'

The brothers also had at least two known sisters. One is Kim Yo Jong, who shares a mother with Kim Jong Un and who is currently working as a top propaganda official.

Another sister, Kim Sol Song, was born from Kim Jong Il's relationship with another woman, Kim Yong Sok. There has been little information about Kim Sol Song, but unconfirmed rumors in the South say she is being detained.

Kim Jong Nam's aunt, Kim Kyong Hui, is Kim Jong Il's younger sister. She was reportedly behind the expulsion of Kim Jong Nam's mother to the then Soviet Union in the 1970s. Kim Kyong Hui and her husband Jang Song Thaek then acted as Kim Jong Nam's caretaker.

Kim Jong Nam's aunt, Kim Kyong Hui (front, centre), is Kim Jong Il's younger sister

But Jong Nam gradually lost favor with his father. He reportedly spent too much money at a Pyongyang hotel and made wild shopping excursions to China. When he was detained in Tokyo for trying to enter the country with a fake Dominican passport, he sported a diamond-encrusted Rolex watch and carried wads of cash.

Kim Kyong Hui and Jang were believed to have played a major role in grooming Kim Jong Un as the next leader.

After Kim Jong Un took power, the two initially enjoyed great power. Jang was seen as the country's No.2 until he was stripped of all posts and executed in a sudden purge for alleged treason in 2013. Kim Kyong Hui, who was reportedly seriously ill, disappeared from the public eye.

Malaysia is one of the only countries North Koreans can visit without a visa – although Jong-nam was using a passport with a false name for the flight back to Macau.

A Malaysian police statement confirmed the death of a 46-year-old North Korean man whom it identified from his travel document as Kim Chol, born in Pyongyang. 'Investigation is in progress and a post mortem examination request has been made to ascertain the cause of death,' the statement said.

Ken Gause, at the CNA think tank in Washington who has studied North Korea's leadership for 30 years, said Kim Chol was a name that Kim Jong Nam has traveled under. He is believed to have been born May 10, 1971, although birthdays are always unclear for senior North Koreans, Gause said.

It was claimed Jong-Nam funded a lavish lifestyle thanks to benefits from building projects set up by his uncle Jang Song-thaek, who has since been executed by the regime.

After Jong-nam's brother became North Korean leader following the death of their father in December 2011, the exile told a Japanese newspaper that the new regime was 'a joke to the outside world'.

He added: 'The Kim Jong-un regime will not last long. Without reforms, North Korea will collapse.' He also claimed he opposed the hereditary transition of power. Cheong Seong-jang, a researcher at Seoul's Sejong Institute think-tank, said it was possible Jong-nam had been assassinated for damaging his brother's authority. He added that the Reconnaissance General Bureau, North Korea's intelligence agency, had been 'closely watching' Jong-nam.

Koh Yu-hwan, a North Korea expert at Dongguk University in Seoul, said Jong-nam had occasionally been the subject of speculation that he could replace his brother.

'Loyalists may have wanted to get rid of him,' he added.

North Korean spies reportedly attempted to kill Jong-nam in Macau in 2011, resulting in a bloody shoot-out with his bodyguards.

Kim's killing is thought to be the highest-profile death under the Jong-Un regime since the execution of the leader's uncle, Jang Song-Thaek, in December 2013.

Jong-Un has been trying to strengthen his grip on power in the face of growing international pressure over his country's nuclear and missile programmes, and regular reports have emerged on purges and executions.

Jong-Nam, known as an advocate of reform in the North, once told Japanese reporters that he opposed his country's dynastic system.

They used to call him the 'Little General' but Kim Jong-Nam - once heir-apparent to his father and North Korea's then-leader Kim Jong-Il - fell from grace in 2001 after a spectacular blunder.

On Tuesday, after more than a decade in exile from the North, Jong-Nam - the 45-year-old half-brother of current leader Kim Jong-Un - was widely reported by South Korean media to have been assassinated in Malaysia.

Born from his father's relationship with actress Sung Hae-rim, Jong-Nam is known to have been a computer enthusiast, a fluent Japanese speaker and a student in both Russia and Switzerland.

He lived in Pyongyang after finishing his overseas studies and was put in charge of overseeing North Korea's information technology policy.

But the chubby eldest son of the supreme leader was already seen by Seoul experts as something of a political lightweight when in 2001 he fell out of favour.

He was embarrassingly detained at a Tokyo airport, trying to enter Japan to visit Disneyland on a false Dominican Republic passport, accompanied by two women and a child.

Jong-Nam and his family afterwards lived in virtual exile in Macau, Singapore and China.

Jong-Nam's half-brother Jong-Un took over as North Korean leader when their father died in December 2011.

In an email exchange with a Japanese journalist published in 2012, Jong-Nam spoke disparagingly of Jong-Un, saying he lacked 'any sense of duty or seriousness' and warned that bribery and corruption would lead to North Korea's eventual collapse.

In another exchange with the same reporter in 2012, Jong-Nam said: 'Anyone with normal thinking would find it difficult to tolerate three generations of hereditary succession.'

In October 2012 South Korean prosecutors said a North Korean detained as a spy had admitted involvement in a plot to stage a hit-and-run car accident in China in 2010 targeting Jong-Nam.

In 2014 Jong-Nam was reported to be in Indonesia - sighted at an Italian restaurant run by a Japanese businessman in Jakarta - and was said to be shuttling back and forth between Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and France.

In 2012 a Moscow newspaper reported that Jong-Nam was having financial problems after being cut off by the Stalinist state for doubting its succession policy.

The Argumenty i Fakty weekly said he was kicked out of a luxury hotel in Macau over a $15,000 debt.

Jong-Nam's son Kim Han-Sol studied at university in Paris. Back in 2012, when at school in Bosnia, he labelled his uncle Kim Jong-Un a 'dictator' in an interview.

'My dad (Jong-Nam) was not really interested in politics,' Kim told the interviewer when asked why his father was passed over for the dynastic succession in favour of his younger brother.

n a 2012 interview from his school in Bosnia, a 17-year-old Kim Han-Sol, Jong-Nam's son, said his father had been passed over for succession because he 'was not really interested in politics'.

'I don't really know why he became a dictator,' Kim said of his uncle Kim Jong-Un. 'It was between him and my grandfather.'

It emerged Wednesday that Jong-Nam had pleaded with his younger brother for his life to be spared after an earlier assassination attempt.

'Jong-Nam in April 2012 sent a letter to Jong-Un saying "Please spare me and my family,"' Kim Byung-Kee, a member of the parliamentary intelligence committee, told reporters.

'It also said "We have nowhere to go... we know that the only way to escape is suicide"', he said, after a closed-door briefing by Seoul's spy chief.

Cheong Seong-Chang of the independent Sejong Institute in Seoul said the assassination was 'unthinkable without a direct order or approval from Kim Jong-Un himself'.

Kim Jong-Nam was once considered heir apparent but fell out of favour with his father Kim Jong-Il following a botched attempt in 2001 to enter Japan on a forged passport and visit Disneyland

His killing was likely motivated by a recent news report that Kim Jong-Nam had sought to defect to the EU, the US or South Korea as far back as in 2012, he said.

Mark Tokola, vice president of the Korea Economic Institute in Washington and a former deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Seoul, said it would be surprising if Kim Jong Nam was not killed on the orders of his brother, given that North Korean agents have reportedly tried to assassinate Kim Jong Nam in the past.

'It seems probable that the motivation for the murder was a continuing sense of paranoia on the part of Kim Jong Un,' Tokola wrote in a commentary Tuesday.

Although there was scant evidence that Kim Jong Nam was plotting against the North Korean leader, he provided an alternative for North Koreans who would want to depose his brother.

t was a secret affair that was so sensitive it was air-brushed from history in reclusive North Korea.

Kim Jong-il, the country's late dictator started a relationship with married actress Song Hye-rim - a star of her time - in the 1960s.

He wanted to keep the affair from his father and founder of North Korea's ruling dynasty Kim Il-Sung.

But Jong-Il would go on to father a son with the actress in 1971, naming him Kim Jong-nam.

Intelligence sources have verified reports of Kim Jong-il's liaisons with Song, Song Hye-rim, who died in exile in Russia in 2002. She was one of the country's first big movie stars, with legions of fans including film buff Kim Jong-il.

Another star of the day, celebrated dancer Kim Young-soon - who escaped to South Korea in 2003 - has revealed how she was jailed for 'gossiping' about the affair.

One day, she met Song who said she was moving into a place in Pyongyang called 'special residence number five' - a home reserved for the family of the ruling Kim clan.

She knew what it meant. Her friend was to become Kim's wife.

In other words, not only was Kim Jong-il forcing a woman six years older to divorce her husband to move in with him but, more riskily, he was rejecting the communist revolutionary his father had chosen for him to produce heirs for the ruling dynasty.

Kim Young-soon became a criminal by repeating the story, losing her family, her privileged status and living for decades at the mercy of the North's security apparatus.

She had not realised just how far Kim Jong-il would go to keep the relationship secret.

In August 1970, Kim Young-soon was interrogated and forced to write her entire life story, including a line in one of the dozens of notebooks she filled about the conversation with Song.

She later speculated an informant had tipped off security about the marriage and her written statement confirmed it.

She was jailed for nine years and it was not until 10 years after she was released - after Kim Jong-il had apparently lost interest in Song - that she was told by a state security agent why she landed in prison.

'He told me that Song Hye-rim was not Kim Jong-il's wife and to forget what I might have heard about them having a child.'

By that time, Kim Jong-il had two other sons with a former dancer named Ko Young-hee, including current dictator Kim Jong-un.

'Once Kim Jong-il took up with his new wife Ko Young-hee, (also known as Ko Yong-hui) they went on to erase any remembrance of Song Hye-rim,' Kim Young-soon said.

Kim Jong Nam was quoted as saying in a 2012 book by a Japanese journalist: 'My father was keeping highly secret the fact that he was living with my mother who was married, a famous movie actress, so I couldn't get out of the house or make friends.

'That solitude from childhood may have made me what I am now, preferring freedom.'

MALAYSIA: Wildlife Trafficer Arrested

Score yet another victory up for Malaysian wildlife officials. In a string of five raids conducted simultaneously in the states of Kedah, Selangor and Kelantan, officials from the Department of Wildlife and National Parks Peninsular Malaysia (Perhilitan) seized a total of 32 wild animals, worth more than RM500,000, and arrested five people, including one prospective buyer.

All the people engaged in the illegal trading of endangered species had been tracked through a Facebook page and were nabbed at private residences and at pet shops. Among the animals seized were a live tiger cub, a leopard cat, a black pond turtle and a binturong. They also included foreign species such as a dwarf caiman and a Mollucan cockatoo, which must have been smuggled into Malaysia for sale on the exotic pet market. At one of the pet shops officials also found four baby long-tailed macaques for sale.

In a separate raid at Kuala Lumpur’s International Airport, an Indian national was arrested for trying to smuggle the parts of tigers and other animals (including pelts, teeth and claws) out of Malaysia.

“This has been a good year for Perhilitan’s law enforcement team. We hope that this streak carries on and more wildlife criminals can be put behind bars,” said Kanitha Krishnasamy, senior program manager for TRAFFIC in Southeast Asia. “This case exemplifies the type of investigations that can lead to successful enforcement action, involving traders, middlemen and buyers. We also hope that the arrest of a buyer in this case cautions other would-be consumers – the law makes no exception for the uninformed.”

Since 2014 at least 59 other individuals have been arrested in 48 operations, according to Environment and Natural Resources Minister Wan Junaidi bin Tuanku Jaafar. He said the latest arrests showed that the country’s exotic pet market continued to thrive despite increasing efforts to roll it back. “It is shocking how the demand for such animals has grown. A six-month old tiger, a critically endangered species, seized was meant for a Malaysian at a cost of RM200,000,” the minister said. “It appears our people are no longer interested in the usual cats and dogs, they are looking for tigers and alligators and this is a disturbing development.”

Disturbing but nothing new, sadly. Back in March, an investigation by TRAFFIC revealed a thriving online trade in exotic pets across Malaysia, much to the horror of local conservationists and animal lovers.

Wan Junaidi has called for handing down the toughest possible penalties to those breaking Malaysia’s wildlife laws. We certainly second that call. Under the Wildlife Conservation Act 2010, offenders face a fine of up to RM500,000 and a maximum jail sentence of five years, or both. “The judges presiding on such cases need to exercise the provisions under the Act to jail offenders instead of fining them,” the minister opined. “Let us see how they like being in a cage.”

It’s only by throwing the book at wrongdoers that we can hope to roll back the thriving trade in exotic animals, dead or alive, in Malaysia.

Customs At Kuala Lumpur International Airport Foil Smuggling A Ton Of Ivory

Customs officers at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) had on July 21 foiled an attempt to smuggle one tonne of African ivory pieces worth more than RM10 million, said KLIA Customs director Datuk Chik Omar Chik Lim.

He said the ivory were seized during an operation conducted at the air cargo warehouse, KLIA free zone, following intelligence gathered.

During inspection, he said, suspicious images were detected when 23 air cargo parcels were scanned.

“On checking the contents of the packages we discovered 1,001 kg of ivory pieces with an estimated value of RM10.01 million,” he said in a press conference at KLIA Customs Complex here today.

According to Chik Omar, the ivory pieces arrived via Turkish Airlines from Kinshasa International Airport, Congo which made a transit at Istanbul Ataturk Airport before landing at KLIA.

According to preliminary investigations, he said, the ivory were declared as baked clay and wooden samples while the importers involved were located in Selangor and Johor.

“On checking the air consignment notes we found the addresses to be fictitious,” he said.

Chik Omar said so far no arrests had been made and investigations on the case were still ongoing.

If convicted, the offence under Section 135 (1)(d) of the Customs Act 1967, provides for a fine of between 10 to 20 times the value of the goods seized or imprisonment not exceeding three years or both, he added.

He said the ivory pieces were believed to be on transit at KLIA before heading for China, Thailand and Vietnam as ivory carvings were popular in these countries and could fetch RM500,000.

In the meantime, KLIA Customs also seized 35.15 kg of khat leaves worth RM17,575 and 530 grammes of methamphetamine worth RM42,400 last month.

On the methamphetamine seizure, Chik Omar said the packages had arrived at the KLIA Mail and Courier Centre from Lagos, Nigeria on July 13 and were seized on July 22 after attempts to contact the recipient failed.

Chik Omar said the four packets of khat leaves from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia were seized on July 14 and declared as tea leaves.

MALAYSIA: Malindo Air Relocating To Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA)

Malindo Air has announced it will relocate flight operations from Kuala Lumpur's klia2 terminal to the main Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) from next month.

The move will take effect from March 15, and customers are 'urged to make the necessary transportation and meeting point arrangements accordingly,' the airline said.

Malaysia Airports Holdings managing director Datuk Badlisham Ghazali said it is a natural progression for the airline as it has evolved from a hybrid to a full-service airline, adding that KLIA can better support the airline's operations with premium services.

"Malaysia Airports is pleased to facilitate Malindo Air's change in business requirements," Ghazali said.

Ghazali also noted the relocation will streamline transfers for customers arriving into Malaysia on Malindo's codeshare partner airlines.

Malindo also flies ATR turboprop services from the nearby Subang Skypark which will continue unchanged, the carrier said.

MALAYSIA: Malindo Air Launches Daily Service From Kuala Lumpur To Colombo

Malindo Air launched a daily service from Kuala Lumpur to Colombo on last 18th December 2015 expanding and strengthening their operations in Sri Lanka. Malindo Air is a Malaysian airline with headquarters in Petaling Jaya, Selangor, Malaysia. The airline is the result of a joint venture between National Aerospace and Defense Industries (NADI) of Malaysia and Lion Air of Indonesia.

The name Malindo signifies a cooperative pact between the two countries, derived from the countries’ names – Malaysia and Indonesia. Malindo Air operates from the Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 (KLIA2) and the Sultan Abdul Aziz Shah Airport (also known as the Subang Airport, Subang SkyPark or LTSAAS) in Subang, Selangor, Malaysia. Malindo has selected Colombo as an emerging destination and Malindo marks another important milestone of launching this new rout.

Hon. Minister Nimal Siripala De Silva, Minister of Transport, Ms. Madubhani Perera, Director Marketing SLTPB and Ms. Chami Gasnawage, Assistant Director Marketing SLTPB attended the inaugural flight launching ceremony at BIA welcoming the new flight to Sri Lanka. “We expect 15% growth in Malaysian Tourist Arrivals in 2016 which is over 25,000 tourists per year, voiced Ms. M

adubhani Perera, Director Marketing – Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau. Jetwing travels is working as the General Sales Agency (GSA) for Malindo Air. Mr. Sunil Pieris, Director Travel Services and Mr. Raju Arasaratnam, Executive Director at Jetwing Travels were also took part at the inauguration ceremony.

“Whilst it’s true that as we continue to expand, we are taking more people on more aircraft to more places, we have to continue our efforts to provide the best service for our customers,” Chief Executive Officer Chandran Rama Muthy said in a statement. He also said that Malindo Air is working very closely with Tourism Malaysia to promote a wide variety of attractions in Sri Lanka.

The carrier operates a network of scheduled passenger services throughout Malaysia, and has spread its wings to regional destinations in Indonesia, Thailand, Bangladesh, India, Singapore, Nepal and Australia, covering an extensive network of over 40 routes in the region.

MALAYSIA: Airport Traffic Slow In The Region

While most airports in Southeast Asia have seen healthy growth or recovery, passenger increases at Malaysian airports have been cramped by capacity cuts at Malaysia Airlines, aviation disasters, cost increases and haze from forest fires in Indonesia.

Malaysia's total traffic grew only 0.7% year on year to 75.6 million passengers by the end of November according to data from Malaysia Airports Holdings, which operates all but one of the country's 40 airports.

November saw a contraction of 2.7% which the company attributed to "double digit percentage [yearly] decline in Malaysia Airlines passenger carriage". In October, 5.3% fewer passengers used airports compared to the previous year because of severe haze from Indonesia spreading across almost all the country.

Bucking the trend, Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 (KLIA2) enjoyed a 9.3% increase in traffic with 23.6 million travelers passing through for the year ending in November. Opened in May 2014, KLIA2 caters to regional low cost carriers like AirAsia and Cebu Pacific, which is operated by Cebu Air and Jetstar Asia.

Malaysia Airlines is undergoing comprehensive restructuring that will see it cut almost 30% of its long-haul routes to Europe and Australia. From February, a code-sharing agreement with Dubai-based Emirates, the world's largest carrier by seat capacity, will link it to 91 long-haul destinations from the Gulf. The airline will focus instead on developing a profitable regional route network. Other remedial measures include substantial layoffs and contract renegotiations with suppliers.

"Malaysia is still recovering from the aftermath of the triple [aviation] disasters last year," said Mohshin Aziz, an aviation analyst from Maybank Research, referring to the loss of two Boeing 777s by Malaysia Airlines and an Airbus 320 by AirAsia with a total loss of 699 lives.

Mohshin said the introduction of a goods and services tax in April and currency depreciations had also adversely affected ticket demand. The government is meanwhile mulling a hike on airport taxes next month that could further dent traffic. Malaysia levies 65 ringgit ($15) for international destinations and nine ringgit for domestic ones.

Though troubled at home, Malaysia Airports Holdings has done better with investment abroad. Traffic up to November grew 19.5% year on year to 26 million at Sabiha Gokcen International Airport in Turkey, which it owns entirely. Located on the Asian side of Istanbul, the airport is the Turkish capital's second international gateway after Ataturk International Airport.

Passenger figures for mainland Southeast Asia's other two aviation centers, Thailand and Singapore were rosier.

Singapore handled 45.5 million travelers in the first ten months of the year, a 2.1% improvement on 2014. Over 100 airlines use Changi International Airport, connecting to some 320 cities in 80 countries.

In Thailand, overall passenger traffic grew 23% to 89.9 million people between January and October, partly due to relaxed visa requirements for international visitors, particularly from China. Airports of Thailand operates six international airports that account for over 80% of total passengers.

MALAYSIA: Aircrafts Abandoned At Airport? To Whom It May Concern, Please Come Claim Your 3 Planes, Otherwise You Loose Them

Malaysian authorities have taken out a newspaper advert to find the owner or owners of three jumbo jets that have apparently been abandoned at the country’s main international airport.

Officials were forced to take the unusual step after growing tired of seeing the unclaimed Boeing 747-200F planes sitting idle on the tarmac at Kuala Lumpur International Airport for more than a year.

They warned that the double-decker planes will be auctioned or sold for scrap if they are not claimed within 14 days.

According to the advert posted, Malaysia Airports has been unable to identify the owner or owners of the jumbo jets.

The ad stated: ‘If you fail to collect the aircraft within 14 days of the date of this notice, we reserve the right to sell or otherwise dispose of the aircraft.’

Zainol Mohd Isa, general manager of Malaysia Airports, told Free Malaysia Today the airport has attempted to contact the last-known owners of the planes, two passenger aircraft and a single cargo jet.

He said the last-known owners are ‘international’ and not Malaysian.

He added: ‘I don’t know why they are not responding. There could be many reasons. Sometimes it could be because they have no money to continue operations.’

According to online searches of the plane's registration numbers, TF-ARM, TF-ARN, and TF-ARH, the aircraft belong to Air Atlanta Icelandic.

However, the company said it no longer owns the planes after selling them in 2008.

The newspaper advert features a photo of each plane and asks the owner or owners to call Malaysian Airports.

If they are claimed before the December 21 deadline, the owner or owners won't be able to escape without penalty.

Officials are seeking payment for landing and parking fees and other charges, Free Malaysia Today reported.

If the planes aren't claimed they will be sold to recoup the charges.

Zainol told Free Malaysia Today that planes have been abandoned at the country's main airport before, including one that was bought and transformed into a restaurant.

It is not the first time this has happened at the airport, Zainol added.

In the past decade a few other planes, mostly smaller aircraft, were abandoned.

He said an aircraft that was abandoned in the 1990s was eventually bought and turned into a restaurant in a Kuala Lumpur suburb.

KLIA was the origin of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, which disappeared after taking off on March 8, 2014 with 239 passengers and crew aboard in what remains one of aviation’s greatest mysteries.

Malaysia earlier this year confirmed that a wing part found on the French island of La Reunion in the Indian Ocean was from the plane. But no further wreckage has been found despite an intensive Australian-led oceanic search.