BY Janefrances Chibundu
The federal operations unit (FOU) zone B of the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS), says it has impounded sacks of pangolin scales worth N3.9 billion.
Addressing a press conference in Kaduna on Wednesday, Ahmadu Shuaibu, comptroller of the unit, said the pangolin scales, which weighed 445.45 kg, were impounded on May 24 in the suburbs of Zuru town in Kebbi.
“Our operatives have upped the ante in the combat against smuggling of protected species and successfully intercepted a consignment of Pangolin scale and its derivatives within the Kebbi state axis of the zone,” Shuaibu said.
“Acting on actionable intelligence, the operatives stormed a hideout known as a slaughterhouse in the suburbs of Zuru town in Kebbi State on Friday, May 24, 2024, at about 1600 hrs.”
The comptroller expressed NCS’s commitment to halting illegal trading of endangered wildlife species.
He noted that endangered wildlife is protected by the convention on international trade in endangered species of wild fauna and flora (CITES).
“It is instructive that Nigeria is a signatory to the CITES convention, and all forms of trading in this species are clearly illegal,” he added.
“The Nigeria Customs Service will continue to partner with CITES to forestall the identified species from going into extinction.
“The value of this seizure at the international market is three billion, nine hundred and fifty-five million, five hundred and ninety-six thousand naira (N3,955,596,000.00) only.”
Shuaibu added that one of the suspects was arrested while another is at large.
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