109 pangolins rescued from cooking pot

BUKIT KAYU HITAM: Over 100 pangolins bound for the cooking pot in Thailand were rescued by the Border Security Agency (Aksem) from a village house near here.

Most of the 109 pangolins, comprising both adults and young ones, were alive when they were seized at noon yesterday from a house in Kampung Kubang Airang, Titi Kerbau in Changlun.

They were found in sacks which were covered in nets inside a shed beside the house.

Only a few small ones, weighing about 1kg each, were dead. The adults weigh about 6kg each.

Kedah Aksem Commander Abdul Latif Abd Rahman said the animals, worth a total of RM196,200, were to be served as an exotic dish after being smuggled out of the country.

He said the raiding party arrested the house owner in the vicinity of the building, adding that the 49-year-old suspect admitted to keeping the animals while they were on transit from Penang to Thailand.

He said the suspect told the raiding party that the pangolins will be picked up by Thai nationals to be smuggled into Thailand where they could fetch up to RM300 per kilo.

Abdul Latif said the pangolins would be handed over to the Wildlife Department for further action, adding that the offence came under Section 68 of the Wildlife Conservation Act 2010 which carries a maximum fine of RM100,000 and five-year jail term.