Agents of the Ministry of Finance and Fiscal Protection of the Civil Guard at Valencia airport found a dead specimen of African pangolin inside a suitcase belonging to a passenger on a flight from Equatorial Guinea.
In accordance with the usual passenger control procedure, the user was asked by customs to pass his luggage through the baggage scanner installed in the arrivals area of the airport. The indicator that operated the system was able to observe the image of the animal inside a suitcase, so he asked the traveler to open the luggage.
After the discovery of the specimen, the passenger was identified and the animal’s carcass was removed from the suitcase, thus beginning the process of determining the species seized. Confirmation was quickly obtained that the specimen belonged to the pangolin genus, which is found in all its variants. protected at the highest level.
The passenger did not have any mandatory documents allowing him to possess and transport the protected specimen. As a result, the Fiscal Agency and the Fiscal Guard of the Civil Guard have started the investigation into the corresponding report for allegations crime against protected wildlife.
Once the reporting procedures were completed, the agents filed the corresponding complaint with the courts of Quart, where the appropriate legal procedure will be followed.
Illegal trade in an endangered species
The pangolin is considered the most trafficked mammal on the planet illegally. Despite its status as an endangered species, its keratin scales, used in traditional medicine in some Asian countries, reach a high value on the illegal market, potentially exceeding 700 euros per kilo.
The simple possession of these animals without the required permits is considered a crime in Spain, in violation of international laws such as the CITES Convention on trade in endangered species, which includes the pangolin among the species classified as vulnerable or in danger of extinction.
THE CITES Convention prohibits international trafficking of pangolins, except in exceptional and duly authorized cases, such as scientific research, and always with the granting of an import permit and an export permit (or re-export certificate).
According to independent studies, the number of pangolins hunted in one year in Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Republic of Congo was estimated at more than 2.7 million, and in one year In 2019, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, seizures of pangolin scales and meat reached a record level of 128 tonnes worldwide.
