Di Nigerian authorities tok say dem seize one large quantity of wild animal parts plus pangolin scales and claws as well as elephant tusks.
Dem seize am during one raid by custom officers for one location for Lekki area of di commercial hub, Lagos afta dem receive intelligence information.
Nigeria customs boss, Hameed Ali, tell tori pipo for Lagos on Wednesday – say dem see di items wey dem conceal in nearly two hundred large bags.
Tori be say dem suspect pipo bin carry am illegally come from Central African Republic and dem bin dey take am to south-east Asia and Nigeria na di transit kontri.
Oga Hammed Ali say di item dem weigh more than 18,000 kg and worth more than 22 billion Naira (around $54m).
Dem don arrest three suspects in connection wit di alleged trafficking.
“Di suspects arrested go soon get dia date for court as NCS go leave no stone unturned to bring dem to justice,” Ali tok.
Im also tok say customs dey work wit British, U.S. and German officials plus oda international organizations to step up counter-smuggling operations.
Im say na dat “extensive collaboration” lead to di seizure from Lekki, near Nigeria main ports for Lagos.
Nigeria don become a hub for gangs sending African pangolins to Asia, according to law enforcement officials and wildlife experts.
Dem blame insecure borders, lax law enforcement, corruption and access to large ports.
According to wetin United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNDOC) tok, seizures of pangolin scales, wey dem dey carry from Africa don increase tenfold between 2014 and 2018,.
In dat time, dem don seize about 185 tonnes of scales, out of dem, dem go don kill roughly 370,000 animals, UNODC said.
Reportedly, dem dey use dis kain animal parts to prepare traditional medicines for some Asian kontris including China.
Believe dey say, Pangolins – wey don dey endangered- na di most trafficked mammals for di world.
Wetin to know about pangolins
Pangolin na one African and Asian mammal wey im body dey covered wit overlapping scales, e get small head wit long snout,
Dem also get long sticky tongue for catching ants and termites, and long tail.
Di pangolin scales na im make up 20 percent of im total body weight.
Pangolins no dey get teeth; instead dem dey rely on dia gizzard-like stomach wey dem dey use grind food.
Pangolins dey use dia scales as tools for self-defence.
Mostly, pipo dey hunt Pangolins for meat, dem dey also use am for use in traditional medicine and as fashion accessories, especially for China and Vietnam.
Di large-scale illegal trade for Asian pangolins don dey drastically drive down dia numbers.