Han Ximin

    ximhan@126.com

    TWO men from Guangxi were held for investigation Thursday morning after 24 live pangolins were found in the trunk of their car when it was intercepted by traffic police in Shenzhen.

    Traffic police officers in Nanwan, Longgang District set up a routine check for vehicles on Busha Road early Thursday morning. One car raised the police officers’ suspicion when it attempted to drive through the check.

    According to Guo Yongxian, deputy chief of Shawan Unit of Shenzhen’s traffic police bureau, the driver was very cautious and only opened his window half-way when officers demanded a check. Then the driver stepped on the accelerator, attempting to drive through the check.

    The driver even attempted to distract the officers by saying that he had no driver’s license. The officers found the vehicle to be very suspicious and ordered the driver to open the trunk.

    They found the live pangolins moving around in several bags, and one that had gotten out of a bag. Officers also found six fake plates for Hainan, Guangxi and Zhanjiang and one fake military plate.

    On July 13 last year, a suspect surnamed Deng, also from Guangxi, used a car with duplicate license plates to deliver 25 live pangolins to a customer in Shenzhen for a 600-yuan (US$87.12) commission.

    Deng attempted to abandon the car to escape when he saw that traffic police officers had a check at a road intersection.

    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.