Malaysian wildlife officers foil animal smugglers

Asia-Pacific News

Jan 6, 2008, 4:30 GMT

Kuala Lumpur - Malaysian wildlife officers foiled an attempt to smuggle out several protected animals and animal body parts that were believed to be destined for China, a news report said Sunday. Officers from the wildlife department launched raids on two houses in the eastern state of Kelantan, Friday and seized three live female pangolins, two skinned pangolins, a skinned bat, the head and legs of a mountain goat, body parts and meat of wild boars and pangolins as well as python skins. The animals and the body parts were believed to be worth more than 30,000 ringgit (8,824 dollars), said Celescoriano Razond, director of the department's criminal division. 'The pangolins and the rest of the items were obtained from (within) the country, and were meant to be exported to China as delicacies and for medicinal purposes,' Razond was quoted as saying by the Sunday Star newspaper. He said five local men aged between 46 and 52 were also arrested during the raids. The suspects would be held in remand for investigations, and if found guilty of smuggling, face a fine of 21,000 ringgit (6,176 dollars) and 18 years' jail. © 2008 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur

Talkback

There are currently no comments for this article. Be the first to comment! (no registration required)

Asia-Pacific

Malaysian wildlife officers foil animal smugglers

Asia-Pacific News

Talkback

Similar articles

Latest Headlines in Asia-Pacific

Latest Articles on The Tech Herald

In Monsters and Critics

Corporate

The Fine Print