A consignment of 7,000 donkey penises estimated to be worth 200 million Naira ($478,000; £416,000) has been intercepted by Nigeria's customs service at an airport in Lagos.
The 16 sacks of animal parts had been found in the animal export section of Murtala Muhammed airport, with Hong Kong as their destination, according to Sambo Dangaladima, the Nigeria Customs Service area commander.
The official told journalists that it was the fetid smell coming from the sacks that aroused the suspicion of the authorities.
The consignment had been “falsely declared … as cow male genitals (but) after due examination, my export officers discovered they were donkey male genitals,” said Dangaladima.
An investigation has been launched into the seized items, with a suspect linked to the malodorous package believed to have escaped.
Donkey parts, export of which Nigeria prohibits, are particularly sought after in China, where they are used to make traditional potency-boosting medicine.
The current discovery is rare, as typically it is donkey skins that are smuggled out of the country. Nigerian senators in 2021 proposed banning the killing of donkeys and the export of their skins.
“The major beneficiary in this trade is the donkey (skin) merchants in China. This animal is facing extinction (in Nigeria) and it is an animal you cannot breed in large numbers because of the very low rate of fertility,” Muhammad Datti, a federal lawmaker supporting the proposed ban, was cited as saying.