By Sandra Ukele
The Apapa Customs Command of the Nigeria Customs Service has seized China bound Pangolin skin and scales valued at N952 million. The seized items also include lion bones and ivory, on export to Vietnam, from where they will eventually be shipped to the Peoples’ Republic of China.
Pangolin scales are traditionally used in China for a range of ailments, including treating blood clots, although there is no scientific evidence they have medicinal value. Investigations also indicate that Pangolin may have been the intermediate host that transmitted the coronavirus to humans when it first emerged at a wet market in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December 2019.
In spite of this, large quantities of Pangolin scales are shipped to Asia annually, according to sources familiar with the issue.
The seized items were carefully concealed in a container as furniture materials before they were intercepted by customs operatives at Apapa port in Lagos on January 21, according to Mohammed Abba-Kura the customs area controller.
The controller said the animals are protected under various United Nations charters.
Abba-Kura said “The Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES 1973) entails that Customs Administration all over the world protects wild life by intercepting illegal trade on such animals.
“Pangolins- scaly, shy and sensitive- are believed to be the world’s most trafficked non-human mammals, accounting for as much as 20 per cent of all illegal wild life trade.
“Their scales which are made of keratin ( the material in fingernails) have no scientifically proven curative properties but are in high demand for use in traditional Chinese medicine. Consequently, all 8 species are threatened with extinction.”
He explained how the eagle eye men of the command intercepted the prohibited items.
“Immediately the container was opened, logs were seen in front, and upon 100 percent physical examination of the container, elephant tusk and the pangolin scales were seen concealed by the logs. The items, falsely declared as furniture, comprised 162 sacks of pangolin scales… and 57 sacks of mixed endangered species of various sizes such as ivory/animal horns, lion bones and others,” he said.
He further stated that the nation’s extant laws prohibit the killing of such animals for commercial purposes, noting that the Customs and Excise Management Act, CEMA Section 147, CAP 147 empowers the service to impound any container with such items.
