The authorities in Ivory Coast say they’ve seized a record haul of three tonnes of pangolin scales.
They say the haul represents about 4,000 of the endangered nocturnal mammals, captured in several West African countries.
A senior police officer with Ivory Coast’s organized crime unit, Thimotee Gnahore, said the scales were worth an estimated $82,000 (£63,000) on the local market but could fetch 100 times that amount in Asia, where they are used in traditional medicine.
Eight men of different nationalities have been arrested.
Some believe pangolin scales have medicinal properties
