Scales from endangered pangolins seized in Thailand

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A Thai customs official puts African pangolin scales into a bag after a press conference at Customs Department headquarters in Bangkok, Thailand, Thursday, Feb. 2, 2017. Thai Customs officers have seized their biggest ever haul of African pangolin scales. Almost 3 tonnes were found, hidden in sacks, in cargo at Bangkok\'s Suvarnabhumi Airport. They were sent from Kinshasa in Congo, via Turkey, and had a final destination listed on the sacks as the Laotian capital, Vientiane. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

BANGKOK – Almost three tons of scales from endangered African pangolins, hidden in sacks, have been seized at Bangkok’s main airport.

Wildlife anti-trafficking organization Freeland said Thursday that the haul was worth more than $1 million dollars on the illegal market, and represents as many as 6,000 dead animals.

The scales were sent from Kinshasa in Congo, via Turkey and had a final destination listed on the sacks as the Laos capital, Vientiane.

They were seized from two separate flights, three weeks apart, in December into Suvarnabhumi Airport although the seizures were announced only on Thursday.

Steve Galster, a representative from Freeland, said organized crime was behind the pangolin trade, and that it was a problem “we have not yet seen any big people behind this fingered or arrested.”

Pangolins are endangered and it is illegal to trade them. Their scales are falsely believed to help cure diseases in Asia.

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