Han Ximin

    ximhan@126.com

    A MAN who was caught by local police for allegedly trafficking 25 live pangolins from the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region to Shenzhen last July was prosecuted by Luohu procuratorate recently, the city’s procuratorate said on its Weibo yesterday.

    On July 13 last year, the suspect, identified as Deng, used a car with duplicate license plates to deliver 25 live pangolins to a customer in Shenzhen for a 600 yuan (US$87.24) commission from the sender.

    At the intersection of Shennan Road East and Wenjin Road Central on July 15, Deng and the other suspect, surnamed Wu, abandoned the car and attempted to escape when they saw traffic police officers had a check on the road. Deng was caught at the scene, but Wu escaped and is still at large.

    Police unexpectedly seized 25 live pangolins from the trunk of the car and a couple of duplicate license plates.

    According to related regulations, those who poach, kill, purchase, transport or sell wild pangolins and related products could face a jail term of up to 10 years.

    Pangolin scales used in Shekou beauty products

    A BEAUTY salon in Shekou was exposed for using a breast-enlargement beauty products containing pangolin scales, according to a local TV news program.

    The beauty product was priced at 198 yuan (US$28.83) in the salon. When an undercover reporter pretending to be a customer asked if it was legal to use a product containing pangolin scales, an endangered species protected by the State, the salon’s staffer didn’t respond.

    The staffer said that the products were imported from Germany and the salon was the sole agency selling them in Shenzhen. “It contains good ingredients, so we use it,” the staffer said.

    According to a doctor, pangolin scales don’t have the “magical effect” for breast enlargement, and it has been getting harder to find pangolin scales in the marketplace since pangolin became an endangered species.

    Although it’s illegal to eat pangolin in China, the country still allows the use of pangolin if it comes from a legal source for pharmaceutical purposes, which makes it difficult to curb illegal pangolin trading. It might also mislead the public to believe that pangolin is tradable, according to the report.

    (Zhang Yang)