On a single day in August, Nigerian officials recovered more than 9 tons of illicit pangolin scales. The stockpile would be worth an estimated $1.7 million in East Asia, where pangolin scales are sold for their use in traditional medicine.
On August 8, customs officials raided a warehouse in Kaduna, Nigeria, which held 2.3 tons of scales, acting on intelligence provided by the Wildlife Justice Commission, a nonprofit working to disrupt wildlife trafficking. That same day, officials also recovered 7.2 tons of scales from a warehouse in Ogun, Nigeria, also with the help of the WJC.
The raid in Ogun was the largest seizure globally since January 2020, when officials discovered 9.5 tons of pangolin scales at an abandoned warehouse in Lagos, Nigeria. Campaigners say that Nigeria is a major exit point for African pangolin scales being trafficked to Asia.
Pangolins are found across Africa, India, and East Asia, where they are imperiled both by the loss of forest and by poaching. The small, scaly creatures are the most trafficked mammal globally, conservationists say, with the eight species of pangolin ranging from vulnerable to critically endangered.
ALSO ON YALE E360
How Traffickers Got Away with the Biggest Rosewood Heist in History
