AN enforcement officer involved in a syndicate smuggling and disposing of international pangolin scales through the country’s entry points will be charged at the Shah Alam Sessions Court, Selangor, tomorrow.
According to sources, the suspect is believed to be an enforcement officer who was previously detained in a special operation, Op Jaguar, conducted by the Anti-Money Laundering Prevention Division (AML) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) around the middle of last year.
He said the male suspect in his 50s is suspected of accepting bribes from the syndicate not to hand over the pangolin scales to the Department of Wildlife.
“The suspect is believed to have failed to hand over the pangolin scales weighing an estimated 1.8 tons, which were confiscated goods of the Royal Malaysian Customs Department, for the Department of Wildlife to be disposed.
“The suspect is suspected of committing the act between September and December 2019 from the Enforcement Storage of the Marine Base, North Port, Klang” he said.
The media previously reported that the pangolin scales were believed to have been smuggled into this country and Malaysia as a transit point before being sent to China and other countries with high demand.
According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Malaysia plays a role as a transit country in the trafficking and smuggling of endangered wildlife and their body parts such as tigers, pangolins, ivory, and turtles.
Op Jaguar, carried out in the middle of last year at premises in Klang, Selangor, and Kuala Lumpur, saw the MACC successfully seized nearly two tons of the animal scales, which were estimated to be sold for up to RM13,000 per kilogram in the black market with a total value estimated at RM23.4 million.
The operation, based on information from enforcement agencies from the United States, United Kingdom, and Hong Kong, also paralysed an international pangolin scales smuggling and disposal syndicate believed to have bribed enforcement officers and engaged in money laundering activities.
As a result of the operation, the MACC has seized various luxury vehicles and frozen several bank accounts worth millions of ringgit believed to be owned by the international pangolin scales smuggling and disposal syndicate.
The seizure and freezing of all these assets followed the detention of 10 individuals including company owners and syndicate agents involving Malaysian, Bangladeshi, Pakistani, and Nepalese nationals in the special operation.
Meanwhile, the Director of AML of MACC, Dato’ Mohamad Zamri Zainul Abidin, when contacted confirmed that the suspect will be charged under Section 403 of the Penal Code.