Singapore has made a second massive seizure of trafficked pangolin scales less than a week after 12.7 tonnes of the illegal animal parts were found in a container labelled as cassia seeds.

The shipment, seized on Monday but only publicised a few days later, was travelling on the same Nigeria to Vietnam route that another record-shattering 12.9 tonne illegal load of scales was taking when it was intercepted on April 3.

The seizures have been a significant blow to the multi-million dollar global animal-trafficking trade but activists have also reacted with alarm at the scale of the problem and the consequences for the already critically endangered species.

“The sheer size of recent seizures suggests that African pangolins may be heading very quickly towards extinction,” warned Peter Knights, the CEO of WildAid, an animal protection organisation.

“They reproduce very slowly and the Traditional Chinese Medicine demand that decimated Asian populations now seems to be targeting every last individual of these reclusive animals,” he said.