The Customs Service of Nigeria, the Kano/Jigawa command, has registered a great advance with the arrest and confiscation of the Pangolin scales worth millions of Naira, which were smuggled in the old city of Kano.
Showing the seized product of wildlife – 420 kilograms of Pangolin scales – in the customs command office in Kano on Thursday, the area controller, Abubakar Dalhatu, declared that the operation was successful due to the strategic intelligence networks.
The area controller pointed out that the seized wildlife product violates national laws, adding that customs has classified these articles, along with certain plant species, as forbidden. He warned that anyone trapped with such articles would face seizure and prosecution.
“Our intelligence units, together with the Customs Police Department and the Wildlife Protection Office, intercepted the Pangolin scales in Kano's metropolitan city. The items were being smuggled, and we are still tracking those behind the act. I promise that we will reach the root of whoever is involved,” he said.
The Abubakar controller explained that the Pangolins and several species of plants are quickly disappearing from the Earth, which makes it imperative to act decisively to protect them from extinction.
“Let me emit a warning: we will not give in the fight against murder and the elimination of animals that are not consumed or sold for legal purposes in the market. In the case of Pangolins, they only kill themselves for their scales, since no one eats their flesh,” he said.
The controller refused to reveal the real financial value of the seized scales, citing restrictions under collegiate protocols.