Authorities in Nigeria have arrested the suspected kingpin of a transnational pangolin trafficking network, the latest in a series of high-profile wildlife busts in the country. Shamsideen Abubakar was linked to a September 2021 case in which authorities seized 1,009.5 kilograms (2,226 pounds) of scales in Lagos, estimated to have come from at least 5,451 pangolins. Two of his associates, Sunday Ebenyi and Salif Sandwidi, were arrested at the time, but Abubakar himself remained on the run until now. The arrest was the result of a collaboration between Nigerian authorities and Netherlands-based NGO the Wildlife Justice Commission (WJC). "The arrest sends a strong signal to Nigeria's illegal wildlife trafficking network that arrest warrants will be strongly pursued," Nigeria’s National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) said in a press release. Abubakar's arrest follows two high-profile busts in Nigeria over the last two years. Each resulted in the seizure of several tons of pangolin scales and the arrest of suspected wildlife trafficking kingpins, including Chinese and Vietnamese nationals.