1. 在疫情防控的关键时刻，温州市的检察机关对一起正在处理的走私珍贵动物制品案件进行了深入的调查和研究，发现了关键线索，有效地引导了侦查机关的行动，成功逮捕了另外3名犯罪嫌疑人。
2. 到今年2月14日，温州市的检察机关已经依法对18名犯罪嫌疑人进行了逮捕。据了解，这次行动中查获的穿山甲鳞片总重达10.65吨，价值约1.1亿元。整个案件的交易量累计达到了23吨以上，这是浙江省迄今为止破获的最大穿山甲鳞片走私案件，也是今年全国查获涉案数量最多的穿山甲鳞片走私案件。
3. back in June 2019, the Wenzhou Public Security Bureau received a tip about the smuggling of pangolin scales from the Wenzhou Customs Anti-Smuggling Branch. After initial analysis, the two departments immediately activated their joint anti-smuggling mechanism and established the "7.2" Joint Special Task Force, which included representatives from the Wenzhou Public Security Bureau, the Wenzhou Customs Anti-Smuggling Branch, and the Ouhai Public Security Sub-bureau, to jointly investigate the lead.
4. After months of meticulous planning and coordination, the task force struck on October 29, 2019, arresting suspects Yao and Wang, among others, while they were in the middle of a handoff at a shipping company in Ouhai Guoxi Street. The operation yielded 306 packages of pangolin scales (totaling 10.65 tons); all 306 packages were identified as those of the African tree pangolin, a species listed in Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
5. The investigation revealed that Yao and Wang, along with other accomplices from Wenzhou, had purchased pangolin scales from a country in Africa and arranged for an international smuggling ring to smuggle the goods into China through a Shanghai port. The smuggling ring was caught red-handed when they delivered the goods to Yao and Wang in a truck, which was ambushed by the task force.
6. Further investigation confirmed that the suspects had previously smuggled 12.56 tons of pangolin scales into the country since November 2018 and sold them to a location in Guangxi.
7. As of now, the case has uncovered a total of 23.21 tons of smuggled pangolin scales, with 18 suspects arrested. The investigation covers various aspects of the smuggling operation, includingsea transportation, dock unloading, domestic transport, domestic recipients, and sales. One smuggling vessel has been seized.
8. Pangolins are the most trafficked mammals in the world due to the high demand for their meat and scales for medicinal purposes. In January 2017, the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) included all eight species of pangolins in Appendix I, calling for a complete ban on international trade. According to statistics, from 2016 to 2019, an estimated 500,000 pangolins were killed for their meat and scales. Over the past three decades, the population of pangolins in China has decreased by 80%. Strengthening the protection of pangolins is an urgent task. We must not let them disappear from the natural world. Therefore, we should cherish animals and pangolins, giving them a pure and blue sky.
