Crackdown on illegal wildlife trade steps up

7 Mar 2011

Thai officials have apprehended two different shipments of illegal wildlife and products recently at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport. Last Thursday, the country’s Customs Department acting on inside information discovered one ton of elephant tusks and rhino horns hidden in 11 crates.

The illicit haul comprised 118 elephant tusks, three rhino horns and 50 pieces of cut ivory and is estimated to have a blackmarket value of 53 million Baht ($US1.7 million). The crates, which had originated in Nigeria and been sent to Thailand via Qatar and Malaysia, were marked as containing craft items.

The interception of this illicit haul was another milestone in the new era of co-operation among world wildlife officials’ intelligence operations. Thai and African officials met to pool resources and intelligence at the end of last year.

Elephants and rhinos are poached on the African continent and horns and tusks are then smuggled into Thailand for carving or onward transportation to China.

Ten days prior to last week’s successful interception of the smuggled wildlife products, a male Indonesian national was arrested after an airport luggage scanner revealed live creatures hidden in his suitcases.

A search of the Surabaya man’s suitcases revealed 259 creatures which included four score Indian star tortoises, a ploughshare tortoise, six Argentine horned frogs and an African grey parrot. The man is alleged to have told customs officers that he had bought the creatures at Chatuchak Market in Bangkok.

World wildlife activists have praised the vigilance of Suvarnabhumi Airport officials, but question Thailand’s commitment to stamping out illegal wildlife trading as it allows an openly acknowledged hub for the activity to flourish in the heart of its capital city.

Tags: illegal, wildlife, blackmarket,