Yahoo – AFP,
Jan Hennop, 18 June 2015
 |
Workers put
ivory items on a sliding belt before being destroyed in Beijing
on May 29, 2015
(AFP Photo/Fred Dufour)
|
The Hague
(AFP) - A global crackdown on wildlife trafficking has netted "huge"
amounts of whale bones, rhino horn, ivory and other contraband, leading to
hundreds of arrests, European and Asian authorities announced Thursday.
Operation
Cobra III saw police in 62 countries swoop on suspected wildlife smugglers
between mid-March and May, European police agency Europol said in a statement.
The
operation, which was "the biggest ever coordinated international law
enforcement operation targeting the illegal trade in endangered species"
yielded "huge amounts of wildlife contraband," said Europol, which is
based in The Hague.
 |
Carved
ivory is shown to the media
before being destroyed in Beijing on
May 29, 2015
(AFP Photo/Fred Dufour)
|
The
suspects included eight alleged smuggling kingpins, including a Chinese
national involved in Namibia's biggest rhino horn smuggling case and a
notorious elephant poacher in India, ASEAN-WEN said.
In Europe
alone, police recovered 11,439 dead and live specimens, including 20 kilos (44
pounds) of live leeches in Bulgaria and 10,000 dead seahorses and 400 tortoises
in Britain, Europol said.
Seahorses
in particular are prized as aquarium animals, ornaments or used in traditional
medicine.
Around 20
million seahorses are estimated to be traded every year for traditional Chinese
medicine, according to Endangered Species International.
In Spain,
police seized 90 kilos of coral and animal horns and heads and a further 25
kilogrammes of coral were netted in Bulgaria.
In India,
nearly 11,000 kilos of suspected tigers' bones were found.
Chinese and
German police meanwhile confiscated around 800 cactus plants, while 50
kilogrammes of unworked ivory were found in France and 16 whale ribs were
discovered in the Netherlands.
 |
Eight
suspected kingpins were arrested
in the operation, including a Chinese
national
involved in Namibia's biggest
rhino horn smuggling case (AFP
Photo/Tony
Karumba)
|
In
Thailand, police in April netted more than four tonnes of ivory hidden in
containers originating in the Democratic Republic of Congo and destined for
Laos.
Thai police
again seized more than three tonnes of ivory a week later in a second haul,
this time from Kenya and again destined for Laos.
The 511
pieces of ivory was found in a container "marked as tea leaves transported
from Mombasa, Kenya," Thai customs officials said.
The
shipping of ivory has been banned since 1989 under the Convention on
International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) and
the tusks are worth millions of dollars (euros) on the black market.
Elephants
and rhinos are mainly poached in Africa and India and their tusks and horn sent
to South East Asia.
While tusks
are used in a "long tradition of ivory carving", powdered rhino horn
is used in traditional Asian medicine.
"Sales generate significant profits for the organised crime groups involved," Europol said.
"Sales generate significant profits for the organised crime groups involved," Europol said.
"Investigations continue in many countries," it added.
 |
Thai
customs officers carry confiscated elephant tusks during a press conference at
the Customs Bureau in Bangkok on April 27, 2015 (AFP Photo/Pornchai
Kittiwongsakul)
|
Europol,
which supported the operation, said COBRA III was organised by ASEAN-WEN and
the Lusaka Agreement Task Force, consisting of seven African countries.
"The
trafficking of endangered species remains a problem in the EU and beyond,"
Europol's director Rob Wainwright said.
"Operation
COBRA III once again shows the true global dimension of these crimes," he
added.
"We
will continue our efforts to fight these cruel crimes, to ensure a safe
environment for endangered species in Europe and all over the world."
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.