Seven people have been arrested from a Dhaba in Sonapur-Guwahati, Dist-Kamrup, Assam, on Thursday in connection with the smuggling of pangolin skin. The pangolin skin seized from the arrested weighs 4kg 110grams. The Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) Assam made the arrest. The forest department has opened an investigation into the matter.
Poaching of the rare one-horned rhinos in Assam has decreased as a result of a global focus on rhino horn smuggling to China. However, smaller species like pangolins have seen an increase in trafficking as a result of the development.
Pangolins are being transported to China’s Yunnan province from Assam and other regions of the Northeast via Burma, which shares a porous border with Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, and Mizoram. The majority of pangolins are smuggled into China via international borders.
Pangolin scales are known to be employed in traditional Chinese medicine. It’s also employed in the production of high-end items and for hair treatments. Because of the huge demand in China, pangolins are smuggled in enormous numbers.
WCCB sleuths captured eight live pangolins believed to have been smuggled to China in 2020. Guwahati, among other places in Assam, was the site of the recovery. Five people were arrested after the skin of a pangolin, weighing 5.7 kg, was found in Hojai
However, Pangolin and its scales are mostly collected by smugglers from various locations of lower Assam, according to sources.
