Pangolins are the most trafficked wild mammals on earth. All eight species have been listed on CITES Appendix I since January 2017, making commercial international trade unambiguously illegal. Yet an estimated 250,000 pangolins are removed from the wild every year. The gap between legal protection and practical enforcement remains vast — but it is narrowing. Across Africa, Asia, Europe, and the Americas, prosecutors are securing longer sentences, intelligence-led operations are dismantling networks, and landmark judgments are establishing precedents that redefine how courts treat wildlife crime.
This article maps the most significant pangolin trafficking prosecutions worldwide, the legal tools being used, and the structural challenges that still allow the majority of traffickers to escape justice.
Nigeria: The Intelligence-Led Model
Nigeria has become the most active prosecution jurisdiction for pangolin trafficking in Africa, driven almost entirely by the partnership between the Wildlife Justice Commission (WJC) and the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS). Since July 2021, this collaboration has conducted 18 joint operations, resulting in 42 arrests, seizure of more than 25 tonnes of pangolin scales and over one tonne of ivory, and 12 convictions. The WJC-NCS partnership accounts for 95% of all pangolin scale seizures in Nigeria.
The watershed case came on 19 July 2023, when the Federal High Court in Lagos convicted three Vietnamese nationals and one Guinean national for trafficking 7.1 tonnes of pangolin scales and 850 kg of ivory. The network had moved pangolin scales and ivory from Nigeria, and rhino horn and lion bones from Mozambique and South Africa, to Vietnam. Each defendant received six years' imprisonment. This was the product of the first major intelligence-led undercover investigation targeting the pangolin trade in West Africa.
25+ tonnes of pangolin scales seized through 18 WJC-NCS joint operations in Nigeria since 2021 — accounting for 95% of the country's pangolin scale seizures and resulting in 42 arrests and 12 convictions.
The pace has accelerated. In August 2024, warehouse raids in Ogun State yielded 9.4 tonnes of stockpiled scales — the largest single WJC-supported seizure to date. In February 2025, the first Chinese wildlife trafficking suspect was arrested in Lagos through a WJC-supported operation, linked to that August seizure. In April 2025, a further 3.765 tonnes were seized at the Lekki Arts and Crafts Market in Lagos, described as the largest global pangolin scale seizure of 2025 at the time, with five suspects arrested including the alleged network leader.
Vietnam: Closing the Demand End
Vietnam is one of the two primary destination markets for pangolin products, alongside China. Historically, prosecution rates lagged far behind seizure volumes. That pattern has begun to shift.
In February 2023, a Da Nang court sentenced Nguyen Duc Tai to 13 years in prison for trafficking 10 tonnes of endangered animal parts from Africa, including 6,200 kg of pangolin scales seized from a container shipped from Nigeria. This remains the longest single prison sentence on record for a pangolin trafficking offence anywhere in the world.
In April 2026, Nguyen The Du and Nguyen Anh Ngoc were convicted by the People's Court of Bac Ninh and sentenced to eight years each, with substantial fines, after being arrested in June 2025 in possession of 900 kg of African pangolin scales — the largest seizure of Africa-origin pangolin scales in Asia that year. These convictions demonstrate that Vietnamese courts are increasingly willing to impose custodial sentences that reflect the severity of the crime.
Malaysia: Record Penalties
Malaysia has produced some of the most consequential sentencing in pangolin trafficking history. In 2019, Mohd Sharwandy Sollahudin, a former police officer, was sentenced to a cumulative 15 years and 9 months for illegal possession of 81 pangolins under the Wildlife Conservation Act 2010. Concurrent sentencing reduced actual time served to approximately 6.5 years, but the case demonstrated that law enforcement officers involved in trafficking face prosecution.
The record was shattered in early 2026, when three Vietnamese nationals arrested near Taman Negara National Park in Pahang were convicted under 15 charges for illegally keeping wildlife parts including pangolins, bears, leopards, tigers, and elephants. The court imposed penalties of nearly MYR 129 million (approximately USD 32 million) and cumulative jail terms exceeding 70 years. Concurrent sentencing means the trio will serve 12 years each, but the financial penalty is the largest ever imposed for wildlife trafficking in Malaysia.
South Africa: Setting Continental Precedent
South Africa's legal framework for pangolin prosecution centres on the National Environmental Management: Biodiversity Act (NEMBA), which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years' imprisonment and a R10 million fine. For organised trafficking networks, prosecutors increasingly turn to the Prevention of Organised Crime Act (POCA), which enables racketeering charges carrying potential life imprisonment.
The landmark case is that of Orateng Mekwe, sentenced to 10 years' direct imprisonment without the option of a fine by the Pretoria Magistrate's Court for illegal trade in pangolins under NEMBA. The African Pangolin Working Group described this as a groundbreaking sentence and a continental and global precedent for direct custodial sentencing in pangolin cases.
“Gone forever because of greed.” — In May 2026, two poachers in North West Province were each sentenced to eight years after a pregnant Temminck's ground pangolin died in their possession following an entrapment operation. The case drew national media attention and prosecutors called publicly for deterrent sentencing.
Between January and August 2023, approximately 30 pangolins were seized in South Africa. The country faces a particular challenge: older provincial legislation, such as the Gauteng Nature Conservation Ordinance of 1983, still sets fines as low as R1,500 with maximum sentences of 18–24 months, creating sentencing inconsistencies depending on which law prosecutors choose to invoke.
International Operations: INTERPOL Thunder Series
The INTERPOL-World Customs Organization Operation Thunder series represents the largest coordinated global enforcement effort against wildlife crime. Participation has grown from 109 countries in the original Operation Thunderball (June 2019) to 138 countries in Operation Thunder 2024.
| Operation | Year | Countries | Arrests | Key Pangolin Results |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Thunderball | 2019 | 109 | ~600 suspects | 1+ tonne scales seized; live pangolin intercepted in Namibia |
| Thunder 2022 | 2022 | 125 | 934 suspects | ~2,200 seizures including pangolin parts |
| Thunder 2023 | 2023 | 133 | ~500 | 546 kg pangolin parts seized in Nigeria |
| Thunder 2024 | 2024 | 138 | 365 | 4.5 tonnes scales in Nigeria; 12 live pangolins rescued |
These operations are not merely symbolic. They generate intelligence that feeds into longer-term investigations, identify trafficking networks for sustained disruption, and create political pressure on countries whose enforcement is lagging. The 2024 edition identified six transnational criminal networks and more than 100 companies involved in trafficking protected species.
The Legal Toolkit
Prosecutors worldwide draw on a range of legal instruments. In the United States, the Lacey Act prohibits trade in wildlife taken in violation of any law. In 2021, Agnes Yu of Portland, Oregon pleaded guilty under the Lacey Act to selling pangolin scales illegally imported in violation of CITES, receiving three years' federal probation and a USD 5,000 fine. China's Criminal Law provides up to 15 years for pangolin trade under Article 341 and allows life imprisonment for smuggling under Article 151, though enforcement has been chronically lenient — of 34 criminals convicted since late 2019, close to half received suspended sentences of under one year.
At the international level, CITES Appendix I listing provides the legal backbone enabling countries to criminalise cross-border pangolin trade through domestic implementation legislation. The UN Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC) offers a framework for extradition and mutual legal assistance, but remains underused because wildlife enforcement agencies are frequently unaware of its scope.
Why Conviction Rates Remain Low
Despite these advances, the prosecution pipeline leaks at every stage. Estimates suggest only around 1.4% of recorded pangolin seizures result in successful convictions. The obstacles are structural.
Corruption permeates every trafficking corridor. In Indonesia, a police officer alleged to have masterminded a 1.2-tonne scale trafficking plot in 2024 was not only not prosecuted but promoted. In Uganda, two Vietnamese nationals arrested with nearly four tonnes of ivory and pangolin scales in 2019 vanished after being granted bail, with no follow-up prosecution. In Malaysia, a senior Customs officer accused of disposing of seized pangolin scales received a discharge not amounting to acquittal in November 2024.
Jurisdictional fragmentation means no single country controls the full trafficking chain. Source country laws may not criminalise export; transit country laws may focus only on possession; destination country laws may require proof of origin. Mutual legal assistance requests are resource-intensive, bureaucratically cumbersome, and hampered by language barriers and inadequate staffing.
Fine-in-lieu-of-imprisonment provisions in many jurisdictions, including Nigeria, allow wealthy trafficking networks to pay penalties and walk free. The 2023 Lagos conviction carried six-year sentences but with the option of fine payments as an alternative. This structural weakness means that financial penalties intended as deterrents become a cost of doing business.
Forensic capacity gaps complicate species identification. Pangolin scales, unlike live animals, cannot be identified to species level without laboratory analysis. Prosecutors must establish that seized material originates from CITES-listed species, requiring forensic infrastructure that is not universally available.
The Direction of Travel
The trajectory is positive. Sentences are getting longer. Cross-border intelligence cooperation is intensifying. The WJC-NCS model in Nigeria has demonstrated that sustained, intelligence-led partnerships can disrupt major trafficking networks. Malaysia's record financial penalties signal that courts are beginning to treat wildlife crime with severity proportionate to its impact. South Africa's direct custodial sentences without fine alternatives are establishing precedents that other African jurisdictions can follow.
But the 1.4% conviction rate tells the real story. For every trafficker who faces a courtroom, dozens operate with impunity. Closing that gap requires not just stronger laws but sustained investment in forensic capacity, anti-corruption measures within enforcement agencies, and the political will to treat pangolin trafficking as the organised crime it is rather than the environmental misdemeanour many judicial systems still consider it to be.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the longest prison sentence ever given for pangolin trafficking?
The longest single prison sentence was 13 years, handed down to Nguyen Duc Tai by a Da Nang court in Vietnam in February 2023 for trafficking 10 tonnes of endangered animal parts including 6,200 kg of pangolin scales from Nigeria. In Malaysia, three Vietnamese nationals convicted in the Panching case in 2026 received cumulative sentences exceeding 70 years, though concurrent sentencing reduced actual time served to 12 years each, alongside fines totalling nearly MYR 129 million (approximately USD 32 million).
How many countries participate in INTERPOL Operation Thunder?
Operation Thunder has grown from 109 countries at its inception in 2019 to 138 countries in the 2024 edition. The 2024 operation resulted in 365 arrests, identification of six transnational criminal networks, and seizure of nearly 4.5 tonnes of pangolin scales in Nigeria alone.
Is pangolin trafficking a criminal offence in South Africa?
Yes. Pangolin trafficking in South Africa is prosecuted primarily under NEMBA, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years and a R10 million fine. For organised networks, prosecutors can use the Prevention of Organised Crime Act (POCA), enabling racketeering charges carrying potential life imprisonment. The Orateng Mekwe case resulted in a direct 10-year custodial sentence with no option of a fine, setting a continental precedent.
Why do so few pangolin trafficking cases result in conviction?
Only around 1.4% of recorded seizures result in successful convictions. Key barriers include corruption within enforcement agencies, jurisdictional fragmentation across the transnational trafficking chain, fine-in-lieu-of-imprisonment provisions that wealthy networks exploit, limited forensic capacity to identify species from seized scales, and cases that can take up to 10 years to conclude.