Faces prison sentence for cooking pangolins for tourists

On February 24, Mr. Soffian Abu Bakar, Director of the Sabah Wildlife Department (SWD), said an inter-agency raid “Ops Khazanah” was carried out at the resort in Semporna district, Sabah state, Malaysia. The campaign was coordinated between local authorities and police after receiving information about this facility storing and processing protected animals.

At the scene, police discovered a live pangolin and many half-cooked pots of herbal soup containing pangolin meat. Three individuals were arrested for investigation under the Sabah Wildlife Conservation Act 1997.

Pangolin is a species on the strictly protected list in Sabah. All acts of possessing, keeping, selling or processing as food are prohibited.

“We take this case very seriously. Any act of processing rare wild animals into ‘specialties’ for tourists will be severely punished,” Mr. Soffian said.

Representatives of the authorities said that these irresponsible acts not only violate the law and sabotage environmental conservation efforts, but also tarnish the image of Sabah, which is trying to build its position as a sustainable and responsible natural tourism destination.

If convicted, the subjects involved could face a fine of 50,000 ringgit to 250,000 ringgit (about 280 million to 1.4 billion VND) and a prison sentence of 1-5 years.

Currently, Sabah state authorities have increased patrols and tightened control at tourist facilities to thoroughly prevent wildlife abuse.

Sabah is the “green lung” of Borneo island, famous for its rare animal ecosystem such as Pygmy elephants and Sunda pangolins. This place has also become a hot spot for illegal hunting to serve “strange feelings” for wealthy tourists.

Previously, Sabah authorities had busted many large-scale wildlife trafficking cases. In 2019, Malaysian police seized nearly 30 tons of frozen pangolins, pangolin scales and live individuals in the Kota Kinabalu and Tamparuli areas, considered the largest pangolin confiscation in the country’s history. In January 2026, two people were arrested in Kunak district after authorities discovered two live pangolins being illegally transported by car.

Conservationists say Sabah has become an important transit point in the international pangolin scale smuggling network, as the demand for bushmeat and medicinal herbs from wild animals remains the main driver of illegal hunting.