Thai cops seize record amount of pangolin scales

This handout from the Thai Customs Department taken and released on February 2, 2017 shows Thai customs officials standing behind seized pangolin scales in Bangkok. -AFP/Thai Customs Department

Bangkok: Thai customs police unveiled a massive three-tonne cache of seized pangolin scales intended for Asia’s lucrative wildlife markets, where feverish demand for the “scaly anteater” has turned it into the most trafficked mammal on earth.

The shy pangolin’s brown scales are made of nothing more than keratin – the same substance as fingernails – but are highly prized in Vietnam and China where they are misleadingly touted as bearing medicinal properties.