Nearly eight tonnes of endangered anteaters found on ship were destined for the dinner table, authorities say

This article is more than 10 years old

This article is more than 10 years old

Chinese authorities have intercepted one of the biggest ever hauls of illegally smuggled pangolins, which were almost certainly destined for the dinner table.

Customs officials in Guangdong boarded a suspect fishing vessel and seized 2,090 frozen pangolin and 92 cases of the endangered anteater's scales on 5 June, according to the conservation group Traffic, who have commended authorities for their work.

Police have arrested the six crew members, including five Chinese nationals who reportedly said they were hired to collect the contraband from south-east Asia and ship it to Xiangzhou port in Guangdong.

The other Malaysian crew member was said to have received instructions by satellite phone on where to rendezvous at sea to pick up the cargo. The smugglers were intercepted as they prepared to offload the nearly eight tonnes of pangolin to another vessel off Gaolan island.

According to wildlife groups, China is the main market for illegally traded exotic species, which are eaten or used in traditional medicine.

Pangolin meat is considered a delicacy and their scales are thought locally to be beneficial to breast-feeding mothers.

As a result of demand, the pangolin populations of China, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia have been virtually wiped out. With traders moving further and further south, the animal is declining even in its last habitats in Java, Sumatra and the Malaysian peninsula. It is a similar story for many species of turtle, tortoise, frog and snake.

China's customs officials have often been criticised for turning a blind eye to this trade, which supplies the demand for exotic food and traditional medicine, particularly in Guangdong.

The Guardian has twice exposed restaurants that illegally sell pangolin.

In recent years, however, there has emerged a small but growing conservation movement in the province.

In the latest case, the authorities have also won praise for a decisive intervention and for sharing intelligence with overseas enforcement agencies, including Interpol, the Asean Wildlife Enforcement Network and Cites officials.

"Guangdong customs are to be congratulated on this important action against wildlife smugglers operating between south-east Asia and China," said Professor Xu Hongfa, director of Traffic's China programme.

To encourage tighter enforcement, conservation groups say it is not enough to merely criticise lax regulation. The Wildlife Conservation Society held an awards ceremony earlier this year for Chinese officials who helped to expose the illegal wildlife trade.

In the far western region of Xinjiang, customs officers confiscated almost 8,000 horns of the Saiga antelope, an animal that is thought to have declined in the wild by more than 75% in the past 10 years. In the far northern Dalai Lake nature reserve, police were rewarded for confiscating 8,000 tonnes of aquatic products and 20 tonnes of medicinal herbs over the past nine years. In the southern, enormously biodiverse region of Yunnan, a forest police officer won an award for catching 7,110 criminals and rescuing five Asian elephants, 182 pangolins, 10 black bears and two pythons over six years.

But these reported successes are likely to be only a fraction of the illegal wildlife products that are killed and smuggled without detection across borders and inside China.