KUALA LUMPUR // Malaysia has seized more than US$2 million (Dh7.3m) worth of scales from pangolins, the world’s most poached animal, at Kuala Lumpur airport in the largest haul seen in the country, officials said on Monday.
Customs officials acting on a tip-off discovered 712 kilograms of scales at the airport’s cargo warehouse, where they had been shipped in 18 sacks using false documents, customs department assistant director-general Paddy Abdul Halim said.
The wildlife and national parks department’s deputy director of enforcement, Rozidan Md Yasin, said an estimated 1,400 pangolins had been killed to produce the amount of scales seized.
Malaysia has previously been singled out by wildlife conservationists as a transit point for the illegal trafficking of endangered species to other Asian countries.
Shy and nearsighted, pangolins only venture out from the safety of their burrows or treetop homes at night to scour for insects. When startled, they curl up into a ball – a technique that is futile against the cable snares set by hunters.
All eight of the world’s species of pangolin, which range from 30 to 100 centimetres length, are threatened with extinction.
The scales were shipped from Africa in two separate shipments, Mr Paddy said. The first shipment from the Ghanaian capital of Accra had been sent to Malaysia via Dubai on an Emirates flight.
The second was sent on a Kenya Airways flight from Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo, to Nairobi, where it was then transferred to an Emirates flight and shipped to Malaysia via Dubai.
“We are still investigating whether the two shipments are linked,” Mr Paddy said.
No suspects had been detained and it was still unclear whether Malaysia was the final destination for the scales as no recipients could be traced.
Pangolin scales shipped to Malaysia were usually sent on to Vietnam and China, Mr Rozidan said.
The value of pangolin scales vary according to region but can fetch up to 1,500 ringgit (Dh1,270) a kilogram on the Malaysian black market, he added.
Global trade in pangolin scales is banned under a United Nations convention, but they are prized in some Asian countries for use in traditional medicines.
Last month, Thai authorities seized nearly three tonnes of pangolin scales from Africa at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport.
* Reuters
Election pledges on migration
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Zimbabwe v UAE, ODI series
All matches at the Harare Sports Club
- 1st ODI, Wednesday, April 10
- 2nd ODI, Friday, April 12
- 3rd ODI, Sunday, April 14
- 4th ODI, Sunday, April 16
Squads:
- UAE: Mohammed Naveed (captain), Rohan Mustafa, Ashfaq Ahmed, Shaiman Anwar, Mohammed Usman, CP Rizwan, Chirag Suri, Mohammed Boota, Ghulam Shabber, Sultan Ahmed, Imran Haider, Amir Hayat, Zahoor Khan, Qadeer Ahmed
- Zimbabwe: Peter Moor (captain), Solomon Mire, Brian Chari, Regis Chakabva, Sean Williams, Timycen Maruma, Sikandar Raza, Donald Tiripano, Kyle Jarvis, Tendai Chatara, Chris Mpofu, Craig Ervine, Brandon Mavuta, Ainsley Ndlovu, Tony Munyonga, Elton Chigumbura
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
