Authorities rescued pangolins in Thai south

PHATTHALUNG, March 17 (TNA) -- A checkpoint set up by authorities in the Thai southern province of Patthalung has nabbed an animal trafficking suspect while they were trying to smuggle 111 pangolins, by hiding them under a layer of coal. Pol Maj Visoot Nuinoom, an inspector at the Pa Bon Police Station in Patthalung province, together with authorities from the Sub-division 6 of the Natural Resources and Environmental Crime Division had set up a checkpoint at the 18th kilometre mark on Asia road, during which they had spotted a suspected 10-wheeler truck which bore the same license plate of Phatthalung that had been previously reported in. After stopping the truck, the police then asked to search it. They found the back of the truck filled with bags of coal and a large plastic container holding 111 pangolins inside. The police then proceed to arrest the 50-year old driver of Patthalung origin, Mr Mustafa Phetsongkram for further prosecution for violating the Wild Animal Protection Act. The pangolins would be sent to the Ton Nga-Chang Wildlife Sanctuary in Songkhla province for caring before they would be released back into the wild. The driver confessed that he was hired by a man to pick up the endangered animal from Rattaphum district of Songkhla province and deliver them to a middleman in Pak Tho district of Ratchaburi province, after which the pangolins would be further sent to China. The suspect said he has successfully done the deed 4 times before being caught. (TNA)