Customs officials in Nigeria reported that they seized a shipping container carrying endangered animal parts falsely declared as furniture at the Lagos port destined for Haiphong, Vietnam. The Nigerian Customs Service say that in total, about 8,800 kilograms of pangolin scales alongside other items such as ivory, lion bones, and animal horns worth over the equivalent of about 2.5 million United States dollars were seized. Such seizures are not uncommon, as Nigeria is often used as a smuggling hub to transport endangered animal arts to south-east Asian nations such as China, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Thailand, where they are often used for traditional medicines. Earlier in January, a Chinese court jailed 17 people for smuggling pangolin scales worth about 28 million United States dollars from Nigeria.

A spokesperson of the Nigerian Customs Service said that inside the 20-feet container, there were 162 sacks of pangolin scales and 57 sacks of endangered species parts. Currently, one person has been detained in connection with the trafficking, and investigations are ongoing.

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