Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA) officers, working in collaboration with the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF), have arrested a 36-year-old man found in possession of 14.5 kilograms of pangolin scales, in what authorities are describing as a significant enforcement action in the ongoing fight against wildlife trafficking.
Okech Philip Jonathan was intercepted at a UPDF checkpoint in Karuma, Kiryandongo District, at approximately 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, while traveling by motorcycle taxi, locally known as a Bodaboda, with the scales concealed in a yellow sack inside a bag.
According to UWA, Okech had travelled from Kampala aboard a Gateway bus to Lamdin before being redirected to Karuma, where a buyer was reportedly awaiting him at a local guesthouse.
Okech was handed over to Kiryandongo Central Police Station to face charges of illegal possession of protected wildlife species and engaging in wildlife trade without a permit, under Section 70(1)(b) of the Uganda Wildlife Act 315.
The arrest comes against a backdrop of a deepening global crisis for one of the world’s most extraordinary and most persecuted animals. All eight recognised pangolin species remain at high risk of extinction due to overexploitation and habitat loss.
Pangolins are the most trafficked wild mammals on earth it is estimated that a million have been taken from the wild in the past decade, roughly one every five minutes.
The IUCN classifies the species across a spectrum of threats. The Chinese, Philippine, and Sunda pangolins are listed as critically endangered; the Indian, Giant Ground, and White-bellied pangolins are considered endangered, while Temminck’s ground pangolin and the Black-bellied pangolin are considered vulnerable. Of the African species most commonly found in Uganda’s range, the Giant Ground pangolin, the largest of the continent’s four pangolin species, is classified as endangered.
Pangolins were transferred to CITES Appendix I in 2017, the highest level of international protection, banning commercial international trade in wild specimens. Yet despite this, trafficking remains extensive and highly organised. Between 2016 and 2024, seizures of pangolin products involved more than an estimated half a million pangolins across 75 countries and 178 trade routes.
The Karuma seizure is far from an isolated incident. Uganda has long been identified as a significant node in the global pangolin trafficking network.
A Traffic report identified Uganda as one of the most common transit points for wildlife trafficking in the Central and East Africa region, with criminal organisations heavily linked to pangolin trafficking in recent years. Between 2012 and 2016 alone, over 1,400 pangolins were seized in Uganda.
Pangolin scales are composed of keratin the same protein that forms human fingernails and rhino horn and carry no proven medicinal value. hence a spike in consumer demand in China and Vietnam, where scales are falsely believed to possess medicinal properties, has led to mass killing and large-scale trafficking, pushing these rare mammals closer to extinction.
The IUCN SSC Pangolin Specialist Group has warned that demand for scales, particularly in parts of Asia, is driving ongoing exploitation, and that many pangolin range states struggle to implement effective conservation measures due to limited resources and weak population monitoring.
Beyond their conservation status, pangolins play a vital ecological role that their disappearance would disrupt irreversibly. Pangolins are essential players in controlling insect populations within their ecosystems, primarily feeding on ants and termites. Their diet plays a crucial role in maintaining the health and stability of their environments.
Pangolins are frontline protectors of forested habitats because they shield trees from termite destruction, helping maintain healthy ecosystems.
In Uganda, enforcement has grown increasingly sophisticated. UWA works closely with police and revenue authorities, using tip-offs from vigilant citizens and advanced investigative techniques. The joint operation with the UPDF that led to Saturday’s arrest is illustrative of that approach, military checkpoints serving as a key first line of interdiction along Uganda’s major transit corridors.
The International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) has also been working with wildlife authorities across East Africa, including Uganda through specialised workshops aimed at combating pangolin trafficking through enhanced cross-border collaboration between law enforcement agencies in Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, DRC, and Tanzania.
Still, experts caution that enforcement alone is insufficient. As the IUCN SSC Pangolin Specialist Group has emphasised, legal frameworks already exist but have not stopped the persistent illegal trade. National authorities must enforce existing legislation, increase collaboration at national and international levels, and intensify conservation efforts while also addressing the demand that drives the trade.
The 14.5 kilograms of scales recovered in Kiryandongo are believed to represent the remains of multiple animals. Pangolin scales, which can account for up to 20 percent of a pangolin’s total body weight, are typically stripped from poached animals before being consolidated and shipped along transnational routes, making each kilogram recovered a measure not just of contraband, but of lives lost.
Okech Philip Jonathan awaits prosecution.