Hyderabad’s Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) officers rescued a live pangolin and detained four wildlife traffickers in Andhra Pradesh’s Kadiri, in a sting operation on Tuesday.
Acting on intelligence reports about a trafficking group seeking buyers for a live pangolin, DRI agents posed as interested buyers to meet with the animal smugglers. As part of their operation, the officials travelled to a remote stretch of Kadiri-Pulivendula Road in Andhra Pradesh’s Kadapa district, where the exchange was to take place.
After several rounds of negotiation, the traffickers brought out the pangolin in a jute sack to the designated spot. The officers, monitoring the location, arrested the suspects and safely rescued the pangolin. The traffickers and the rescued pangolin were handed over to Kadiri Forest Range officials for further legal procedures under the Wild Life (Protection) Act of 1972.
On October 31, Kadapa district forest department officials arrested five persons accused of smuggling a live pangolin. Acting on credible information, the forest department staff zeroed in on the accused and nabbed them, and rescued the captured pangolin near the Nakkakonda forest area.
Pangolins which are captured live are illegally trafficked to China; each pangolin could fetch a fortune for the seller, which is one of the reasons for the illegal international trafficking of live pangolins.
Pangolins are listed under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act and Appendix I of CITES, granting them the highest protection and making any trade in the species illegal.
Indian Pangolins (Manis crassicaudata) are heavily trafficked for their scales, which are believed to have medicinal properties in parts of Asia, especially China. Pangolin meat is also considered a delicacy, fetching high prices, making them frequent targets of poachers.
