CUSTOMS officers in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, have seized 7.26 metric tons of pangolin scales after cracking a series of smuggling cases involving endangered animals and their products in July and August.

Zheng Jun, deputy director of Guangzhou Customs’ anti-smuggling bureau, said it is the largest amount of pangolin scales seized by Guangzhou Customs this year.

“The crackdown has dealt a heavy blow to the smuggling that involves endangered animals and their products in Guangdong Province, known as the southern gate of the country,” Zheng said at a news conference Wednesday.

“The large amount of pangolin scales smuggled from Africa indicated between 12,000 and 18,000 pangolins had been slaughtered, as a pangolin usually has from 0.4 to 0.6 kilograms of scales,” he said.

A special task force was established to focus on investigating the case when customs officers seized a total of 2,260 kilograms of pangolin scales at a customs checkpoint in Yunfu, Guangdong, on July 11.

The smuggled pangolin scales, in 113 white woven bags, were found in a container that was declared at customs to contain granite.

After weeks of investigation, customs officers seized another 2.6 tons and 2.3 tons of pangolin scales in two special operations in Guangzhou in August. All of the smuggled pangolin scales were declared at customs as granite.  (Xinhua)