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About 2.18 tonnes of pangolin scales — equivalent to approximately 1,100 pangolins have been seized in an anti-wildlife trafficking operation in Nigeria on December 5, 2024. Nigerian Customs Service (NCS) officers, using intelligence provided by the Wildlife Justice Commission (WJC), also arrested a man.
Pangolins are among the world’s most trafficked mammals, driven by demand for their scales and meat. All international trade of pangolins is prohibited under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species and are listed in Appendix I in accordance with the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s Red List. This means that the species is threatened with extinction.
The suspect is believed to be a broker supplying pangolin scales to trafficking groups in Lagos, said a press statement by WJC. Authorities expect the arrest to significantly impact the wildlife trafficking network’s operations.
This operation is the third seizure of pangolin scales in Nigeria this year involving the NCS and WJC. Since July 2021, the organisations have together conducted 16 operations that led to 35 arrests, 12 convictions and seizures of 21,582 tonnes of pangolin scales and 1.065 tonnes of ivory.
According to the WJC, the partnership accounts for 95 per cent of pangolin scale seizures in Nigeria during this period.
Authorities anticipate that the seizure and arrest will disrupt multiple levels of the supply chain, affecting trafficking networks within Nigeria and beyond. This follows a trend of reduced global trafficking activity, with no major seizures of African pangolin scales reported at international seaports for more than two years, the statement said.
At least 23.5 tonnes of pangolins and their specimens were trafficked in 2021 alone, according to TRAFFIC, a global non-profit working on trade in wild animals and plants and their conservation. According to a 2017 study, at least 400,000 pangolins are hunted and consumed in Central Africa each year.