Aizawl, Sep 7 (IANS) Around 390 kg of pangolin scales worth Rs.2.3 crore have been seized in Mizoram, police said Friday.
Customs and Mizoram Police officials Thursday night raided a house at Tuirial on outskirts of capital Aizawl and seized the scales and arrested a man, said a police official.
The value of the scales was estimated to be Rs.2.3 crore in the international market, the official said.
Lalchungnunga, 41, who was arrested told the police that the scales were collected from south India and were bound for Myanmar.
The scales of endangered pangolin, according to wildlife officials, are used for making garments, medicines and other purposes in south Asian countries.
On Sep 3 too, officials has seized 63 kg of pangolin scales from north Aizawl and arrested one person.
On Oct 21 last year, 144 kg of pangolin scales were found in a Aizawl-bound bus. Two people from Myanmar were also held.
“Via Myanmar, the scales are smuggled to China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and South Korea,” a custom official said.
Pangolin, a long-tailed tropical ant-eating mammal, found mostly in south American countries, is also reared in south India.
Their hunting and killing is banned under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.
