Spanish Civil Guard officers have seized 15 dead pangolins from a suitcase that arrived on a flight from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. These animals are protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
The seizure occurred within the framework of the State’s fiscal protection functions, carried out by the Civil Guard and whose purpose is to prevent and prosecute smuggling, drug trafficking, fraud and other tax offenses under the functional dependence of the customs authority.
On February 16th, Civil Guard officers from the Fiscal and Border Unit at Adolfo Suárez Madrid-Barajas Airport carried out customs checks on passengers arriving on a flight from Addis Ababa. During this check, they found a passenger’s suitcase whose contents, when inspected by X-ray, revealed different shades and densities that caught the officers’ attention.
Upon opening the luggage in front of its owner, authorities found 15 pangolins wrapped in plastic, weighing a total of 40 kg. These animals are listed in Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), which regulates the international trade of protected species.
Therefore, the passenger has been investigated as the alleged perpetrator of a crime against wildlife, and the specimens have been sent to the national CITES authority for study, cataloging, and assessment.
The illegal trafficking of protected species constitutes a serious threat to biodiversity and may be punished with prison sentences and fines, in accordance with the provisions of the Penal Code.