Pangolin & skins worth lakhs seized, two held in Tinsukia

 Consignments brought from Arunachal Pradesh

OUR CORRESPONDENT

TINSUKIA: Just two days ahead of the 'World Pangolin Day', personnel of the Guwahati-based 'Wildlife Crime Control Bureau' (WCCB) of the 'Ministry of Forest, Environment & Climate Change' (MoEF&CC), seized a huge cache of Chinese pangolin skins along with a live pangolin from a hotel in Tinsukia on Thursday.

The approximate value of the confiscated items is estimated at around Rs 35 lakh. Of the recovered seven pangolin skins, the largest measures 41.5 x13 inches while smallest one is of 21x8.5 inches. The live one, however, could not be measured.

In this regard, two traffickers including a woman have been apprehended. The duo has been identified as Samua Wangsa and Phawai Wangsa of Longding in Arunachal Pradesh. The seized consignments and persons were handed over to Tinsukia police. Further investigation is on.

Police sources said that the traffickers were caught from a hotel opposite to the New Tinsukia Railway Station when a deal with some prospective buyers was about to begin.

Pangolins (Scally Anteater) are predators of ants and termites. Marked in the 'Red List' of the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature); the pangolins are trafficked mainly for their scales which are used in the treatment of a variety of health conditions in the traditional Chinese medicines.

Conservationists have designated the third Saturday of February as the 'World Pangolin Day'.

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