New Delhi: In a joint raid carried out by the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau and Central Bureau of Investigation at New Delhi railway station, four men were arrested late on Friday night and 86 kg of pangolin scales recovered from them. The scales were being taken to Guwahati from where it was to be smuggled into China, said officials. The pangolin, one of the most trafficked mammals in Asia, is in high demand in countries such as China and Vietnam.
When sleuths of the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) and CBI received information about a group taking pangolin scales to northeast India from Delhi on Friday night, teams from both the agencies raided the suspected train and held Joginder (32), Subhash (31), Rajbir (35) and his brother Dalbir, all residents of Haryana.
"On searching their bags, we found 85.9 kg of pangolin scales and registered an FIR against the four men arrested," said a senior WCCB officer. "The quartet disclosed that they were taking the scales to Guwahati to hand it over to some other people. They also said that more consignments were to be transported across the border." The men are being questioned to find out details of the people involved in the illegal trade.
Pangolins are critically endangered and are protected under Schedule One of the Wildlife Act. The strange mammal's meat is considered a delicacy in some Southeast Asian countries, particularly China and Vietnam, and its scales are used in traditional medicine to ailments ranging from asthma to rheumatism and arthritis.In India, pangolins face a major threat from poaching. They are hunted for their protein-rich flesh and for the scales used in folk remedies," the WCCB officer added.
According to the World Wildlife Fund-India, seizure reports suggest that over 3,000 pangolins were hunted in India between 2009 and 2013. Estimations from media reports about 25 cases in the same period put the scales confiscated at around 5,000 kg.
