Nearly 20,000 tortoises and freshwater turtles have been smuggled through Thailand in six years says a new report by the wildlife monitoring agency TRAFFIC.
Their report, entitled Seizures of Tortoises and Freshwater Turtles in Thailand 2008-2013, analysed 53 reported seizures, more than half of which took place at Suvarnabhumi International Airport in Bangkok.
But despite this staggering number they found just a third of the seizures resulted in the arrest of 40 suspects, and only six successful prosecutions were recorded.
“It is encouraging that enforcement officers in Thailand are carrying out such significant seizures, but it really is the follow-up investigations and successful prosecutions that make these seizures effective,” said Dr Chris Shepherd, Regional Director for TRAFFIC in South-East Asia.
No comments:
Post a Comment
You only need to enter your comment once! Comments will appear once they have been moderated. This is so as to stop the would-be comedian who has been spamming the comments here with inane and often offensive remarks. You know who you are!