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ustoms and excise officers at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport saved 72 scaly anteaters from being illegally exported among a consignment of live crabs to a seafood and fruit supplier in Hong Kong.

Office chief Oza Olivia said on Friday that the anteaters, which have large keratin scales covering their skin and are locally known as trenggiling, were in Styrofoam boxes and about to be loaded onto a Chinese cargo plane on Thursday.

Officers checked the boxes and discovered the protected mammals that were being kept in separate bags along with around 1.3 tons of crabs. “We will work together with the Jakarta Natural Resources Conservation Center [BKSDA] to further investigate the case,” she said, adding that the mammals would be handed over to the conservation center.

BKSDA head of conservation, Trustiadi, said that the scaly anteater was on the list of protected animals under the 1999 law on plants and animal conservation and the 1990 law on natural resources and the ecosystem. Those who break the laws could face a maximum of five years’ imprisonment and a Rp 100 million (US$10,411) fine.

In June, the Forestry Ministry reported that about 12 tons of scaly anteaters were smuggled each year in a trade estimated to be worth Rp 12 billion.

Forestry Minister Zulkifli Hasan said that the smuggling of trenggiling meat, scales and gallbladders was conducted through manipulating documents for fish exports.

He said that demand for the mammals was increasing because the high-protein meat was consumed to treat particular diseases while the scales and gallbladders were used as ingredients for cosmetics or sedative drugs, even as aphrodisiacs for men.

In the global market, according to the ministry, the scales were priced at Rp 3 million per kilogram, while the price of the meat ranged from Rp 250,000 per kilogram for fresh meat to Rp 500,000 per kilogram for frozen meat.

“The rampant smuggling of trenggiling has brought the species to the edge of extinction. We closely work with the police, the prosecutor’s office and the customs office at the airport and Tanjung Priok Port to curb the trade,” Zulkifli said.