Man found guilty of smuggling £50m worth of live eels out of UK

Gilbert Khoo transported endangered ‘glass eels’ to Hong Kong hidden beneath other fish

A seafood salesman has been found guilty of smuggling more than £53m worth of endangered live eels out of the UK.

Gilbert Khoo, 66, transported the rare elvers from London to Hong Kong hidden underneath other fish between 2015 and 2017.

He was caught after Border Force officers found 200kg of the European “glass eels” (Anguilla anguilla), which are critically endangered, at Heathrow airport in the first seizure of its kind in the UK.

Khoo was found guilty of three counts of failure to notify movement of animals and three counts of evasion of a prohibition or restriction on the export of goods at Southwark crown court on Friday.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) said he smuggled more than five million elvers over a two-year period with an estimated retail value of more than £53m in east Asia.

A picture released by the National Crime Agency (NCA) shows him holding two gold bars. The NCA senior investigating officer, Ian Truby, said: “The entire operation run by Khoo to trade in these critically endangered animals was illegal from start to finish, and there is no doubt his sole motivation was money.

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Nashua man pleads guilty to smuggling monitor lizards into U.S. in audio speakers – via Herp Digest

By Paul Freely, New Hampshire Union Leader , 4/23/19

A Nashua man pleaded guilty in federal court in Massachusetts Tuesday to smuggling live monitor lizards from the Philippines like the one shown in this file photo into the United States illegally.

Wikimedia Commons photo

Boston — A Nashua man pleaded guilty in federal court in Massachusetts Tuesday to smuggling live monitor lizards from the Philippines into the United States illegally, officials said.

Derrick Semedo, 26, of Nashua pleaded guilty to wildlife trafficking Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Boston, before Judge Douglas P. Woodlock, Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Bossert Clark for the Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division and Andrew Lelling, United States Attorney for District of Massachusetts.

Semedo pleaded guilty to one count of wildlife trafficking in violation of the Lacey Act.

According to court documents, Semedo admitted to illegally importing more than 20 live water monitor lizards from the Philippines between March and December of 2016, in violation of United States law and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) Treaty. According to court paperwork, the lizards were placed in socks, sealed closed with tape, then concealed in the back panels of audio speakers or other electronic equipment to avoid detection by U.S. customs officials.

The equipment was then shipped via commercial carriers to Semedo in Massachusetts. The customs declarations accompanying the shipments identified the content as audio speakers or other electronics, not live lizards.

As part of his plea, Semedo admitted knowing the monitor lizards he received had been taken in violation of Philippine law, and that importing them violated U.S. law. Semedo also admitted that after receiving the monitor lizards, he sold some of them to customers, including customers in Colorado, Connecticut, and New Hampshire.

The monitor lizard species — there are approximately 70 — are characterized by elongated necks, heavy bodies, long-forked tongues, strong claws, and long tails. Monitor lizards have a vast geographical range and are native to Africa, Asia, and Oceania.

Water monitor lizards are semi-aquatic monitor lizards found in south and southeastern Asia. According to federal officials, some species of water monitor lizard are common and abundant in the pet trade, while others are extremely rare and found only on specific islands.

Water monitor lizards are often captured illegally and killed for meat, traditional medicine, or for their skins, federal officials said.

“To remove members of endangered species from their natural habitat and illegally sell them in the United States is harmful to the animals, their native habitats, and the new ecosystems they have unwittingly invaded,” said Clark in a statement. “The Department of Justice remains determined to work with our law enforcement partners to ensure that these endangered animals are protected.”

“Endangered species are called that for a reason,” said Lelling. “Illegally trafficking a protected species in violation of United States and international law is callous and short-sighted. This office will continue to target those who exploit protected animals and ecosystems for personal gain.”

Smuggled orangutan seized at Bali airport

23 March 2019

A Russian man has been arrested in Bali on suspicion of trying to smuggle a young orangutan out of Indonesia.

The two-year-old male was found drugged inside a rattan basket when Andrei Zhestkov was stopped at security at Denpasar airport on Friday night.

Mr Zhestkov is said to have told officials he was given the primate by a friend who bought it for $3,000 .

Orangutans are a protected species and Mr Zhestkov could face up to five years in prison if convicted.

"The Russian also had injections and drugs in his bag. He said he planned to re-administer the drugs when they transited" in South Korea, Dewa Delanata, from the airport's quarantine office, told the Jakarta Post.

Two live geckos and five lizards were also found in the passenger's luggage.

According to the authorities, Mr Zhestkov, 27, said he was convinced by his friend, also Russian, that it would be okay to take the orangutan back to Russia to keep as a pet.

The animal is being looked after by the Bali Natural Resources Conservation Agency.

Orangutans face threats from poachers and farmers in Indonesia.

The Tapanuli orangutan, found in isolated forests in Sumatra, has been described by conservationists as the most endangered great ape species in the world.

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Cambodia seizes record three-tonne haul of African ivory

Discovery of 1,026 tusks at Phnom Penh port follows a tip from the US embassy

Agence France-Presse

Sun 16 Dec 2018 06.04 GMTLast modified on Sun 16 Dec 2018 18.50 GMT

Cambodia seized more than 3.2 tonnes of elephant tusks hidden in a storage container sent from Mozambique, a customs official said on Sunday, marking the country’s largest ivory bust.

The discovery of 1,026 tusks at the Phnom Penh port followed a tip from the US embassy, the official said, and highlights Cambodia’s emergence as a key regional transit point for the multibillion dollar trade in illicit wildlife.

“The elephant tusks were hidden among marble in a container that was abandoned,” Sun Chhay, director of the customs and excise office at the port, said.

He said the ivory was sent from the southern African nation of Mozambique and arrived at the port last year.

The unidentified owner of the shipment did not arrive to pick up the cargo. Pictures of the massive haul showed long rows of confiscated tusks spread out on the ground at the port.

Sun Chhay said he did not know whether the shipment was destined for markets in other countries.

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Orangutans saved as Malaysia foils high-seas smuggling bid

September 24, 2018

Orangutans and baby crocodiles were among 400 animals seized by customs officials from a boat off Malaysia

A pair of young orangutans, baby crocodiles and rare birds were among over 400 animals rescued from a boat off Malaysia as they were being smuggled from neighbouring Indonesia, officials said Monday.

Three suspected Indonesian traffickers were arrested after customs officials thwarted the bid to transport the animals to Thailand in an operation Friday off the Malaysian holiday island Langkawi.

The unusual cargo included two "frightened-looking" orangutans and dozens of baby saltwater crocodiles, Malaysian wildlife official Mohamad Zaki Rahim told AFP.

There were also about 350 sugar gliders—a type of small marsupial—cockatoos, parrots and parakeets found in boxes on board, he said, adding the smugglers intended to sell all the animals as pets.

The smugglers were seeking to transport the animals under cover of darkness in a cargo vessel from the vast, jungle-clad Indonesian island of Sumatra, through the Malacca Strait to Thailand, customs chief T. Subromaniam told the Star newspaper.

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DRI busts animal smuggling racket, rescues 1,000 turtles (Editor- note the 852 red-eared sliders confiscated because its an exotic turtle so falls under endangered species act’s protection) – via Herp Digest

The gang procures turtles from forest areas in Telengana, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka through its agents. DH File Photo (Example of species confiscated, not actual animals)

DH News Service, Bengaluru, Oct 10 2017, 2:39 IST

The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) has claimed to have busted an animal smuggling racket and rescued 1,012 exotic turtles and tortoises, whose notional value was put at Rs 4 crore in the international market.

The DRI sleuths arrested one person and are searching for his associate in Chennai. The sleuths refused to divulge details of the arrested.

“He had tightly packed animals in seven travel bags and had kept the bags in two car bound for Chennai from Bengaluru,’’ said a senior officer. On definite leads, DRI staff intercepted the car at Attibelle toll gate and arrested the man.

There were 76 Tricarinate hill turtles, 852 red eared sliders, 11 Indian star tortoises and 46 female melanochelys tricarinate turtles and 27 Indian tent turtles, the official stated.

Exotic turtles and tortoises fall under endangered species category and their illegal capture and transport attract a minimum prison term of seven years under Customs Act and Wildlife Protection Act, 1972.

The suspect told DRI sleuths that he operated through his associates in Bengaluru since 2016. They would procure animals captured from forest areas in Telengana, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, through their agnets. Later, they would transport animals to Chennai by road. They would send them by cargo flight to China.

Turtles will be treated at veterinary care centre for a few days and later released into the wild or rehabilitated in any government animal centre, the official added.

Rhino horn smuggled as jewellery

By Victoria GillScience reporter, BBC News

18 September 2017

Criminal networks smuggling rhino horn out of Africa are turning it into jewellery to evade its detection in airports, an investigation has found.

Wildlife trade monitoring network Traffic revealed an "emerging trend" of making and smuggling beads, bracelets and bangles and rhino horn powder.

The lead investigator told BBC News the trade in rhino horn was now "morphing" into a market for luxury items.

At least 7,100 rhinos are estimated to have been killed in Africa since 2007.

Today, about 25,000 of the animals remain.

Julian Rademeyer from Traffic explained that the production of rhino horn "trinkets" mirrored some of the patterns seen in the trade in ivory.

"It's very worrying," he told BBC News. "Because if someone's walking through the airport wearing a necklace made of rhino horn, who is going to stop them?

"Police are looking for a piece of horn and whole horns."

Continued  

Three Turtle Smugglers are Caught – via Herp Digest

Malayanclean, 7/19/17

Three more down, plenty more to go.

Two Thais and a Malaysian man have been arrested for trying to smuggle eight rare sulcata tortoises, also known as African spurred tortoises (Centrochelys sulcata), through Malaysia’s border with Thailand. The trio of smugglers, who were between 24 and 28, tried to cross the border with the reptiles hidden in their car via Perlis. The three men are facing a prison term of up to two years and a fine of up to RM50,000, or both, for violating anti-trafficking laws.

Most likely, the African tortoises were destined for Malaysia’s booming exotic pet trade where the animals are prized by many turtle enthusiasts. Numerous exotic turtles are smuggled into the country and out of it with depressing regularity. Often trafficked turtles don’t survive their ordeals, suffocating or starving to death in boxes where they’re bound up in duct tape to stop them from moving around.

There’s also a thriving market in them within Malaysia, where turtles and other exotic animals are often traded online. Small and juvenile turtles are especially prized. As we have pointed out repeatedly here on Clean Malaysia, just as all other trades, legal or illegal, wildlife trafficking, too, responds to demand. We can all reduce or even eliminate that demand by refusing to buy or sell endangered animals and by reporting those people who continue to traffic in them.

“Turtle species are seriously threatened [and] nowhere more so than in Asia with 17 of the 25 most critically endangered tortoises and freshwater turtles on the IUCN Red List found in the region,” James Tallant, a senior program officer for the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, recently pointed out.

All illegal trade in exotic turtles and other vulnerable species of wildlife (be they reptiles, mammals, fish or birds) must stop.

Thai police nab Japanese woman with rare reptiles at airport (including Malayan snail-eating turtles and monitor lizards) – via Herp Digest

By Tokyo Reporter Staff on November 25, 2016

THAILAND (TR) – Local police have arrested a Japanese woman who was found to be in possession of dozens of rare reptiles without authorization, reports NHK (Nov. 23).

On Tuesday, the woman, a 44-year-old resident of Fukushima Prefecture, was found by an airline employee to be in possession of a suitcase containing 55 reptiles, including Malayan snail-eating turtles and monitor lizards, at Bangkok International Airport.

The woman, charged with violating wildlife conservation laws, was scheduled to depart on a flight for Narita International Airport.

“At the entrance of the airport I was asked by an unknown Asian [to carry the reptiles],” the suspect was quoted. “I received the suitcase and a commission of 100,000 yen. I did it like a part-time job”

At the time of her arrest, the woman was accompanied by a six-month-old boy.

“I do not know what kind of money these animals will fetch on the market in Japan,” said the arresting officer, “but I was surprised that even a woman with a child was involved in smuggling.”

Rare turtles and monitor lizards are protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora of 1973.

Spurt in demand: Monitor lizard racket thrives – via Herp Digest

DECCAN CHRONICLE. | SHRAVAN REGRET IYER

Published Jul 6, 2016, 7:23 am ISTUpdated Jul 6, 2016, 7:23 am IST

The inter-state gang, which tried to sell the four large Bengal Monitor Lizards smuggled from Hosur, was caught by the police in Jayanagar.

Lizards were given medication by WRRC vets and  later released in the wild in the Bannerghatta National Park range.

Bengaluru: Bengal Monitor Lizards, which are a threatened species under the IUCN Red List and found on the outskirts of the city, are being increasingly sold on the roadsides along NH 44, from Krishnagiri to Bengaluru, for their meat, oil and fat, that are used in traditional treatment of bone fractures, chronic pain and other ailments.

The recent rescue of four monitor lizards smuggled from  Tamil Nadu,  by the Wildlife Rescue and Rehabilitation Centre in Bengaluru exposed the gravity of threat to this endangered species, greatly in demand for its body parts.

The inter-state gang, which tried to sell the four large Bengal Monitor Lizards smuggled from Hosur, was caught by the police in Jayanagar.  Once rescued, the lizards were given medication by WRRC vets and  later released in the wild in the Bannerghatta National Park range.

The rescue was only one of many conducted by the WRRC.  At least five monitor lizards are rescued  by it  every year, according to its members. A wildlife rescuer with the WRRC in Bengaluru,  Anand, reveals that the meat of Bengal Monitor Lizards is in demand because its believed to be very nutritious.

“Selling or buying monitor lizards is a criminal offence as they are protected  under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. But you can still see people trying to sell them on the highways especially near Krishnagiri towards Bengaluru," he observed.

Smugglers buy the lizards for Rs 1, 000 each in Tamil Nadu and sell them for Rs 5, 000 or more in Bengaluru, according to him. “The cost depends on the weight of the lizard and its gender. Its meat is used for food as many believe it is good for the muscles. Their oil and fat is extracted and sold for their medicinal properties," he said, adding that even the blood of these lizards was consumed  mixed with alcohol  by many in the city.

A raid carried out by  forest officials in 2010 in Sikkarimedu, near the Krishnagiri main highway led to the seizure of 43 monitor lizards. And in 2013,  22 monitor lizards were seized from a tribal couple near a bus stand in Krishnagiri.

Thailand Tiger Temple monk held 'for smuggling'

2 hours ago

Thai authorities say they have detained a monk attempting to smuggle tiger skins and fangs from a Buddhist temple.

Operators at Wat Pha Luang Ta Bua temple, known as the "Tiger Temple", are accused of wildlife trafficking and animal abuse. They deny the charges.

On Wednesday, wildlife officials found the bodies of 40 dead tiger cubs at the temple complex.

The discovery came during a week-long effort to relocate 137 tigers from the tourist site in Kanchanaburi province.

The temple operators had resisted previous attempts to remove the tigers.

Police intercepted the monk, and two other men, in a lorry leaving the temple in western Thailand on Thursday.

The authorities confiscated two full-length tiger skins, about 700 amulets made from tiger parts, and 10 tiger fangs, Teunchai Noochdumrong, director of of the Wildlife Conservation Office, told the BBC.

"This confiscation shows that the temple is likely involved in illegal tiger trade. They are clearly violating the law in selling, distributing of transferring the protected animals or their parts," she said.

Wildlife authorities in Thailand have said they will press charges against the temple.

On Wednesday, tiger cub corpses were found in a freezer at the complex, along with body parts from other animals.

Police Col Bandith Meungsukhum told the Agence France-Presse news agency the cubs would have been one or two days old, but it was not clear how long they had been dead.

They will be DNA tested to see whether they were related to other tigers at the site.

Officials say the temple operators could be charged with keeping the carcasses without permission.

The temple previously said it had decided in 2010 to stop cremating cubs which died soon after birth. It has always denied trafficking allegations.

Continued … 

California couple plead guilty to smuggling 911 sea turtle eggs from Mexico – via Herp Digest

Sunday February 20, 2016 By Tony Barboza, Los Angeles Times (TNS)  

LOS ANGELES — A Southern California couple has pleaded guilty to smuggling 911 endangered sea turtle eggs from Mexico into the United States, federal prosecutors said.

Olga Jimenez, 52, and Jose Jimenez, 64, of Hemet admitted last week to smuggling the eggs by bus from Nayarit, Mexico, in 2014 and concealing them in coolers under layers of fish, shrimp and ice so they could be transported by pickup across the border in Tijuana, according to the U.S. attorney’s office. 

The eggs were harvested from olive ridley and Kemp’s ridley sea turtles, which are protected in Mexico and the U.S. under the Endangered Species Act and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, prosecutors said.

As part of pleading guilty to the charges, which included smuggling, unlawful trafficking of wildlife and conspiracy, the couple agreed to forfeit the eggs and pay the Mexican government up to $9,000 in restitution.

Sea turtles are vulnerable to poaching during mass nesting events called arribadas, in which females each lay about 100 eggs and bury them in sand.

Because sea turtle eggs are considered a delicacy and aphrodisiac, they can be sold for $100 to $300 apiece, according to prosecutors.

The Jimenezes were ordered to appear before a judge in May for sentencing. They could face penalties of up to $250,000 and 20 years in prison.

Canadian smuggler with turtles in pants pleads guilty in U.S. - via Herp Digest

ASSOCIATED PRESS, ANN ARBOR — A Canadian man caught at a border crossing with 51 turtles tapped to his body pleaded guilty today to smuggling or attempting to smuggle more than 1,000 of the reptiles out of southeastern Michigan.

Kai Xu, 27, would order turtles online and travel to the U.S. to pick them up and then ship them to China or return with them to Ontario, Canada. He pleaded guilty to six crimes in federal court in Ann Arbor and faces a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.

It’s illegal to export wildlife from the U.S. without a permit from the government.

Xu “regularly deals in turtle shipments worth $30,000, $80,000 or $125,000,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Sara Woodward said in a court filing. “In China, the turtles he smuggles are worth two to three times the amount he pays here.”

Defense attorney Matt Borgula declined to comment after the guilty plea.

Xu has been in custody since his arrest in suburban Detroit in September 2014. He describes himself as an engineering student at the University of Waterloo in Waterloo, Ontario, although the university said he wasn’t enrolled at the time of his arrest.

In summer 2014, weeks before his arrest, Xu was under surveillance in Detroit. After picking up a box at a United Parcel Service site, he hid behind trucks and emerged with “irregularly shaped bulges” under his sweat pants, wildlife agent Ken Adams said.

Xu returned to Ontario but was stopped by Canadian border authorities who found 51 live turtles taped to his legs, including box turtles and terrapins.

Despite the bust, “he did not cease smuggling turtles. He did not even slow down,” Woodward said.

Zimbabwe hunter who helped kill Cecil the lion, in court on fresh charges

Theo Bronkhorst has been re-arrested and stands accused of ‘conspiracy to smuggle’ and ‘unlawful movement of animals’

AFP in Beitbridge

Tuesday 22 September 2015 19.55 BSTLast modified on Tuesday 22 September 201521.22 BST

The professional hunter who helped an American dentist kill Zimbabwe’s popular lion Cecil has appeared in court on new charges of planning to smuggle sable antelope out of the country.

Theo Bronkhorst, 52, was initially arrested on Monday last week in Zimbabwe’s second largest city of Bulawayo, after he was linked to a plot to smuggle 29 sable into neighbouring South Africa.

Prosecutors withdrew the charges when he appeared in court on Wednesday, his lawyer Perpetua Dube told AFP.

He was re-arrested on Monday on new charges of “conspiracy to smuggle” in breach of customs laws and “unlawful movement of animals”.

A court in Beitbridge ruled that he be remanded in custody until a decision on his bail application is made on Wednesday.

Three South Africans are facing charges of trying to smuggle the 29 sable – a rare and expensive breed of antelope – out of Zimbabwe into South Africa.

Continued ...

Stamford's (Conneticut )SoundWaters Rescues 22 Baby Turtles Bound For Soup Pots - via Herp Digest

http://www.courant.com/news/connecticut/hc-turtles-saved-ct-20150211-story.html

Where there is a video of Leigh Shemitz, president of the SoundWaters environmental education center in Stamford, explains how the facility helped to rescue 22 baby diamondback terrapin turtles that were confiscated from international smugglers in Alaska.

By David Moran, Hartford Courant

SoundWaters, the Stamford-based environmental education center, received some unexpected guests in December just before the holidays. Twenty-two of them to be exact.

But staff at one of the leading environmental education organizations on Long Island Sound weren't about to complain.

SoundWaters' guests -- 22 baby diamondback terrapin turtles – had been seized from international smugglers in Alaska by officials from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and U.S. Customs and Border Protection Service. The environmental group's brood were part of 211 baby turtles that were found stuffed into boots at the Anchorage airport in December of 2014.

The turtles were likely bound for China, where turtle soup is considered a delicacy and the market for turtles is lucrative, according to SoundWaters President Leigh Shemitz.

When Shemitz said SoundWaters learned that officials were looking for foster homes for the turtles, she said the facility "jumped at the opportunity."

"The call went out to people who are involved in turtle research and education to find home for these turtles," Shemitz said. "We're part of a nationwide group, they reached out, and we said we'll take as many as you need."

Shemitz said the turtles, which are about 4 to 6 months old and 1 to 2 inches in size, are "now thriving" at SoundWaters and plans are in place to introduce the turtles to the public in the spring. In the meantime, many of the turtles got to take their first plunge into deep water on Wednesday.

"Today's the first time they actually got into our terrapin exhibit and went from maybe a two-foot long small tank to actually being in a large tank where they can dive and climb and they really seem to like it," she said.