5 kg pangolin scales seized in Madhya Pradesh, government staffer held
New Delhi: The Madhya Pradesh Forest Department officials have seized five kg scales of pangolin or scaly anteater in Balaghat district over a fortnight and arrested a government employee in this regard, official sources said on Wednesday.
The animal is listed in Schedule I of the Wildlife (Protection) Act of 1972 and as “endangered” on IUCN (UK-based International Union for Conservation of Nature) Red List.
Forest officials told IANS that a trap was laid to catch the smugglers who initially offered to provide 10 to 12 kg of the pangolin scales at Rs 50,000 per kg.
One smuggler, a government employee named Ashok Ramtekkar, was arrested though the kingpin escaped, the officials said.
Ramtekkar is an employee of the Lanji civic body and also works as a driver of the main accused Mahendra Sonwane, his wife and son, all of whom are absconding.
Killed for its meat as well as scales used in traditional Chinese medicine, pangolins are the most-hunted animals globally and at present are threatened with extinction. An adult pangolin yields around one kg scales.
About two kg scales were seized on January 22 in the same area. This month, a pangolin was confiscated from a poacher in Lanji town in Bhalaghat district.
“About four days ago, we received information about some people offering pangolin scales… we contacted the smugglers through a middleman and fixed a meeting at a place on the town outskirts. The smugglers said they can offer about 10-12 kg scales, but they bought only five kg. The person who came to the spot to deliver the scales was later arrested,” Divisional Forest Officer (DFO) of Balaghat South, Deva Prasad, said.
A Naxal-hit area, Balaghat district has Chhattisgarh to the east and Maharashtra to the west. Due to its supportive terrain, the place has abundance of pangolin, a nocturnal mammal with distinct looks due to its pine-like scales.
“The poachers hire villagers by offering them small sums of money to poach wildlife and then sell the same at high prices,” Prasad said.
Experts said the prices of scales vary. “At the final destination in China, the price is about six to seven times the primary price (at which the poached animal was obtained),” Tito Joseph from the Wildlife Protection Society of India (WPSI) told IANS.
In November 2017, about 12 tonnes of pangolin scales were confiscated by custom officers in Shenzhen city of China.
The scales were believed to have come from the jungles of Asia and Africa after the slaughter of 20,000 to 30,000 pangolins.
India is home to two species — Indian Pangolin and Chinese Pangolin.
In 2018, pangolin scales have also been confiscated from Mayurbhanj distict of Odisha and Rupnagar district of Punjab.
IANS
