Organised criminal networks that previously traded mostly with African elephant ivory are turning to pangolins.
Border porosity, weak law enforcement and corruption on the supply side enable this growing crime in Central Africa.
A senior forestry official from the Republic of the Congo told the ENACT project that elephant and pangolin were the most poached species in the country. The forestry directorate says 20 tonnes of pangolin scales were seized at the port city of Pointe-Noire in 2018 and nine tonnes in 2020. Officials said these pangolins and their scales were smuggled from the port of Matadi in the DRC. Arrested traffickers over the years include Congolese, Malian, Lebanese and Chinese nationals.
At the source, locals form poaching cells to catch pangolins in their natural habitats. Criminal syndicates and buyers from cities such as Yaoundé and Douala buy the animals and their products from these cells. The cartels, which include Cameroonians and Nigerians, export the pangolins to Asia through major transit nodes such as Douala and Lagos ports .
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