A Correspondent
BOKO: The Assam Forest Department cracked down on a group of poachers and caught them at Daranggiri in the Goalpara district along with the rare pangolin’s scales on Sunday.
According to the forest officials, they got information that some poachers will come to the Goalpara area along with pangolin scales from neighbouring Meghalaya.
They found a quartet of people who had negotiated the pangolin scales at Rs 20,000 in a dhaba at Daranggiri. The forest team from the Rangjuli Forest Office immediately arrested them along with the scales.
The Ranger of Rangjuli Forest, Dharmendra Das, said that the weight of the scales is around one kilogramme and its market value is around Rs 1.50 lakh.
The arrested smugglers were identified as Jindas Momin, Benarson Momin, Kilen Sangma, and Cabisto Momin under the Kharkutta police station in Meghalaya. The forest department has already registered a case against the four smugglers for selling pangolin scales and has started further investigation on this matter.
According to the reports, pangolin scales are highly prized in some parts of Asia, where they are used in traditional medicines and considered a delicacy. The scales are boiled, dried, and roasted, and then sold based on claims that they can treat a range of ailments, including cancer, asthma, skin diseases, and palsy. In traditional medicine, the scales are also believed to stimulate lactation and help to drain pus.
However, according to the reports, pangolin scales are useless against poachers, and all species in Asia and Africa are now under threat. Over the past decade, more than a million pangolins have been taken from the wild to feed consumer demand for their meat, scales, and other body parts. In 2019, there was an all-time high in pangolin-scale seizures, highlighting alarming rates of trafficking between Africa and Asia. On the black market, pangolin scales can cost more than $3,000 per kilogramme.
Also read: Pangolin, ivory smuggling continues in Northeast (sentinelassam.com)
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