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| Pangolin traffickers caught in the act |
Police in Cameroon have shut down an international
poaching gang after catching six traffickers carrying more than 700 kilos of
pangolin scales, a conservation group said on Tuesday.
Pangolins,
or scaly anteaters, are one of the world's most trafficked species and are
threatened with extinction. Their
scales are widely used in traditional Chinese medicine and their meat is a
delicacy in many Asian and African countries.
The six
poachers - five Cameroonians and one from the Central African Republic - were
arrested on August 18 in Douala, a coastal city in southwest Cameroon,
according to the Last Great Ape Organisation (LAGA).
Most of
the 718 kilos of scales they were carrying were from the Democratic Republic of
Congo, it said.
The gang
bought pangolins from smaller traffickers in Cameroon, the Central African
Republic and the Democratic Republic of Congo before sending them to Nigeria,
where they were prepared for export to Asia, it said.
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