11.9 tons! The largest smuggling case of pangolin scales was solved

　　CCTV News:Pangolin is a kind of animal covered with scales from beginning to end. Hard scales are pangolin’s protective clothing, but they also bring heavy pain to pangolin.

　　Recently, Shenzhen Customs seized pangolin scales weighing 11.9 tons. A pangolin has about 0.4 to 0.6 kilograms of scales. These 11.9 tons of pangolin scales mean that about 20,000 to 30,000 pangolins have been brutally killed. On the morning of the 29th, Shenzhen Customs announced the seizure process of the largest pangolin scale smuggling case to date.

　　Shenzhen Customs seized 11.9 tons of pangolin scales.

　　On July 1st this year, Shenzhen Customs, which belongs to Dapeng Customs, found that one of the containers was abnormal when checking and releasing dozens of containers. Customs officers immediately conducted a thorough investigation of this container. After taking out more than 100 bags of charcoal, they found some different packaging bags inside.

　　Chen Ken, a member of Shenzhen Customs Inspection Department of Dapeng Customs, said: "After opening the packaging bag, it was initially suspected that it was pangolin scales."

　　After on-site counting and weighing, 239 packages of pangolin scales were found, with a total weight of 11.9 tons.

　　The suspect’s profit is as high as ten times or even dozens of times.

　　Who is smuggling these pangolin scales? Finding suspicious people has become the key to solving the case.

　　After combing the massive information, the customs anti-smuggling personnel finally found a Chinese name pinyin Xia Mou on the sea waybill. By expanding the scope of information to investigate Xia and Xia’s social circle, a man named Li Moujun entered the sight of anti-smuggling personnel.

　　According to Li Moujun’s account, he bought pangolin scales from many places in Africa at a price of about 150 yuan RMB per kilogram in an attempt to transport them to China for profit, and the profit was as high as ten times or even dozens of times.

　　11.9 tons of scales equals 20,000-30,000 pangolins killed.

　　The reporter saw the pangolin scales seized this time at Shenzhen Dapeng Customs inspection site. Judging from the packaging bag, the appearance was covered with many unknown bugs, and there was still a strong fishy smell at the scene. The pangolin scales seized this time are as big as shells and as small as fingernails.

　　According to experts in the protection of endangered animals and plants, a pangolin has about 0.4 to 0.6 kilograms of scales. The smuggling of 11.9 tons of pangolin scales seized by Shenzhen Customs this time means that about 20,000 to 30,000 pangolins have been brutally killed.

　　Pangolin scales are no different from human nails.

　　Pangolin, as an endangered wild animal, has a strong armor, but it is difficult to be greedy by enemies. Because pangolin scales can be used as Chinese herbal medicines in ancient China, they have become a tool for criminals to make profits. But in fact, modern western medicine says that the composition of pangolin scales is no different from that of human nails.

　　In China, pangolin belongs to the national second-class protected animals. Species and their products without import and export certificates are prohibited from trading, carrying or mailing in and out of our country. Illegal import, export or smuggling of such articles by other means will bear corresponding legal responsibilities. If the circumstances are serious enough to constitute a crime, criminal responsibility will be investigated according to law. At present, Li Moujun and others involved in the case have been arrested by the procuratorate, and the case is under further investigation.

　　Pangolin is the most hunted mammal in the world.

　　Pangolin is the only mammal covered with scales; It has no teeth, so it can’t chew; They feed on ants and termites; Pangolin mothers carry their babies with their tails; Pangolin moves at night in most cases, and its eyesight is poor, which will not pose a threat to any other mammal. When it encounters enemy harm, pangolin will shrink into a ball and protect its weak abdomen with scales, thus protecting itself from predators. However, it is this interesting and harmless animal that has become the most hunted mammal in the world.

　　Two of the four pangolins in Asia — — Chinese pangolin and Sunda pangolin — — It has been listed in the red list of the World Conservation Union as an extremely endangered species, which is only one step away from extinction in the wild. In addition, the conservation level of eight species of pangolins in the world has been upgraded to "VU", which means that no pangolins are safe.

　　Lenovo’s "magic" effect became the cause of the massacre.

　　Because pangolin is good at making holes, the ancients thought pangolin had the effect of "getting through". Therefore, pangolin unfortunately became a member of the prescription when it encountered diseases that needed to be "getting through" such as carbuncle, sores, amenorrhea and milk obstruction. In recent years, the domestic market has severely cracked down on the sale of endangered animals, but some people even "eat more as they get more endangered" in order to show off their identity, which has also become the reason for pangolins to die at the table.

　　However, does pangolin, which has been slaughtered so wantonly, really have those magical effects? The scales of pangolin are just keratinized skin appendages, and its main component is β -Keratin is not essentially different from hair, nails and other ingredients.

　　Refuse to eat pangolin and refuse to use pangolin products

　　Under the double pressure of being used as medicine and cooking, it is estimated that the demand for pangolins in China is as high as 200,000 each year, of which 50% are used as medicine and 50% are used as food. Due to a large number of catches, the number of pangolins in China has dropped sharply. According to a survey in 2008, the number of pangolins in China is roughly between 25,100 and 49,450, which is less than one-fifth of the annual consumption, so smuggling is rampant.

　　It is necessary to strengthen the crackdown on pangolin smuggling activities, and at the same time establish relevant protected areas to protect pangolin’s living environment. The most important thing is to refuse to eat pangolin and refuse to use pangolin products.