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: 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.”

Govt To Destroy Seized Horns, Tusks, Hides At Delhi Zoo

The Union environment ministry plans to celebrate World Wildlife Day on March 3 by destroying ill-gotten trophies of poachers including hides, scales, horns and tusks. The items will be burned in the incinerator at Delhi Zoo in the presence of environment minister of state Anil Madhav Dave.

State chief wildlife wardens have been invited by the environment ministry to contribute to the stock being burnt. Some of the confiscated items will come from the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau.

The Delhi Zoo was also the site of the last such destruction devised by the ministry. In 2014, at least four truckloads of confiscated items were destroyed and the incineration lasted for four days, according to Riyaz Khan, the curator at the Delhi Zoo. On that occasion, a stockpile worth Rs 20 lakh was destroyed.

World Wildlife Day is celebrated on March 3 to mark the signing of Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Under CITES there are bans in place on the trade of ivory and rhino horns.

Destruction by incinerator, open burning of stockpiles or crushing of tusks and horns are all done to deter poachers. Kenya burnt down the largest stock of ivory last year in April weighing about 105 tonnes.

The ministry is not revealing how much stock will be incinerated because all state governments have not responded yet.

Supporters believe incineration stifles the market for these goods by curbing supply. Shekhar Kumar Niraj, head of wildlife trade monitoring network TRAFFIC, said that destroying the confiscated stash is important because storing it comes with risks. “There is a possibility that the ivory gets out because of the connivance of officials,” Niraj said, “the price of these goods is always rising, the stockpiled items are at risk.”

“In some of the raids conducted by the bureau the items confiscated were already marked,” Niraj said suggesting that they had been leaked back into the market.

Safeguarding confiscated goods also requires resources, both infrastructure and manpower.

Other conservationists support this move but believe more needs to be done. “The demand side is equally important, the markets have to be closed,” Varun Goswami, a conservationist at the Wildlife Conservation Society, said. Demand for these wildlife products is high in countries like China and Japan because they are believed to have medicinal value.

In December last year, the Chinese government committed to stamp out the market for poached animal parts in the country by end of 2017. It was hailed as a big step towards making the trade in these items unattractive.

However, some countries in Africa like South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe have pushed for legal sales of the stocks of confiscated items and investing some of the proceeds in conservation efforts. Goswami believes that legalising ivory sales is no way to curb poaching as it keeps demand alive.

More than 1200 animals were killed by poachers in India between 2013 and 2016, as per government data.

In 2014 items that are ostentatiously luxurious were destroyed at the Delhi Zoo incinerator. India faces a somewhat peculiar problem. Some of the items may not just be high monetary value in the black market but hold sacred value like ivory idols.

The less glamorous option of incineration may be a safe choice for the government since burning stockpiles in the open like Kenya has done might invite protests and could also aggravate Delhi’s high pollution.

UGANDA: Uganda Impounds 4,000 Kgs Of Ivory

The Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) and the Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) have said illegal wildlife trafficking is on the rise as Uganda and the entire East African region remain top transit routes for items heading to Asian countries.

The increase of the vice has been blamed on weak national legislation and lack of cooperation between partner states alongside changing tactics of packaging of the items by the individuals involved in the illicit trade.

Speaking at the opening ceremony of a one-week training for enforcement officers currently on-going in Entebbe on Monday, the UWA acting security and law enforcement officer, Ms Margret Kasumba, said about 4 tonnes of ivory were impounded by the URA, UWA and police between 2014 and 2015.

“These include those at the UWA stores and those still in possession of the Police and are still under investigations,” said Ms Kasumba.

“The consignments were disguised in drums as shear butter and were in transit to Singapore. Other items were disguised as aircraft equipment headed to the Netherlands for repair,” she said, adding that the training provided by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) will boost intelligence of the officers in detecting new tactics.

According to Mr Abel Kagumire, the manager enforcement operations at URA, the tax body in joint operations consificated 473kgs of Ivory in June 2012, 832 pcs about 2.9 tonnes seized in October 2013 and 10kgs concealed as bananas seized at Bunagana in 2015.

The other major seizures were at Entebbe International Airport jointly seized by URA and Police.

Mr Kagumire added that about 3.3 tonnes of ivory and rhino horns were seized on January 12, 2015 and they were concealed as telecommunications equipment and one tonne of ivory concealed in 4 drums disguised as shear butter.

“Ivory costs about USD 2700 per kg (Shs9.07m) whereas Rhino horns cost about USD 50000 per kg (Shs168m),” said Mr Kangumire, as he explained why capacity building is necessary to help in curbing the vice conducted in what is known as organised crime networks.

Mr Mohammad Eisayed of IFAW noted that the main challenge to combating wildlife trafficking in the region is the high demand for these products in Asia.

In 2014, an audit revealed that 1,355kgs of ivory worth $1.1 billion (about Shs3 billion) had gone missing from the UWA’s strong room. However, the matter was investigated by the Inspector General of Government and culprits apprehended.