After three years, the smuggling kingpin Gakou Fodie behind the smuggling of wildlife parts out of Africa has been arrested near the Kenya-Uganda border recently.
The international operation began in March 2014 where Singapore authorities seized a 1-tonne shipment of elephant tusks on its way to Laos. The Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) alerted the Lusaka Agreement Task Force and provided the container number and port of departure, among other details.
A pattern began to form after more shipments of elephant tusks were seized in Vietnam and Thailand in 2015, leading to one syndicate and Gakou Fodie.
Dr Chua Tze Hoong, group director of the Quarantine Inspection Group at AVA, said clamping down on illegal wildlife trafficking requires government agencies and non-governmental organisations to work together.
Poaching and smuggling of rhino horns, pangolin scales, wildcat skins and elephant tusks are driving wildlife populations down. Some wildlife parts are used in traditional medicine while others like elephant tusks, when skillfully carved into decorations, can cost as much as US$300,000 each, said Mr Galster, who has seen high-end works in Beijing, China.
Part of the challenge is to get “transit and consumer” countries to step up.
Traffickers also are known to be crafty. They would label a consignment of elephant tusks as coffee beans or tea leaves, said Mr Galster.
In the end, it was the investigators’ perseverance and advanced investigation training that proved vital in bringing down the syndicate, Mr Galster added.
The investigators began to see more links to wildlife suppliers after using digital forensics software in their probe. Using raw data, the software analyses and spots trends and patterns.
The suspects arrested included a senior Kenyan Customs official, several shipping agents and high-level traffickers who played a role in smuggling the illegal consignment to Singapore. They are also linked to other wildlife crimes.
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Source: The Straits Times, 12 June 2017