Large haul of tusks, pangolin scales expected to lead to arrests

[snoop1130]

Large haul of tusks, pangolin scales expected to lead to arrests
Kittipong Maneerit
The Nation

KOH SAMUI -- The authorities confiscated Bt40 million worth of elephant tusks and pangolin scales at the Samui International Airport earlier this month, Customs Department’s director general Kulis Sombatsiri said at a press conference Friday.

"Officials minutely X-rayed cargo boxes and found these illicit items," he said, adding that this was the biggest haul this year.

He explained that the boxes contained 281 tusks and 12 bags of pangolin scales, worth Bt38 million and Bt2 million respectively. He added that the haul had been sent out of Nigeria on December 8 and the destination was Laos.

"We closely checked the air cargo after getting a tip-off that illegal ivory traders would be transporting illicit items via airports," Kulis said, adding that the tusks would undergo DNA tests in a move to gather evidence against wrongdoers.

"The test will take about a month," he explained, adding that he expected the evidence to lead to the arrest and prosecution of the wrongdoers.

On April 25, Thai authorities participated in an operation to intercept and seize 3,286 tonnes of ivory, which led to the arrest of 11 suspects and seizure of their assets in Kenya.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/breakingnews/Large-haul-of-tusks-pangolin-scales-expected-to-le-30275214.html

-- The Nation 2015-12-18

[canuckamuck]

A month for DNA? Things have really gone down hill since Koh Tao. Last year were knocking out DNA test in about 6 hours.

[Kasset Tak]

A month for DNA? Things have really gone down hill since Koh Tao. Last year were knocking out DNA test in about 6 hours.

Yea, as they must gather samples from the tusks and also from cadavers from Nigeria to compare with, it's not like they have an elephant DNA database.

If you have a sample and a suspect to compare too then it will be much quicker!

[slapout]

I I think that is 3 shipments sent from Nigeria and intercepted in southeat asia ports in just the last few days. the buyers and sellers

must be feeling heat from somewhere and are trying to get illegal merchandise into a safer place to hide and process it.

Although one newsphoto showed some of the ivory had already been carved when it was intercepted. Most was still in natural

form of a natural tusk with a guesstimate of a final destination of Vietnam and some speculate N. Korea.

[Srikcir]

It doesn't seem that Kenya has any capability to interdict these shipments.

Or maybe it's a lack of motivation. More enforcement needs to be done outbound if this illilcit trade is ever going to be stopped.

[HerbalEd]

281 tusks means about 140 elephants were killed for no reason except for greed.

Those that buy ivory carvings and such are just as guilty as those who do the killing.

[cumgranosalum]

Thailand is meant to have set up DNA testing under the agreement they have with CITES to buck up their ideas about ivory smuggling.

If this ivory had got through into the country (I assume some still does) it would then be almost impossible to do anything about it.

The LEGAL trade in "home sourced" ivory means that it is still - without DNA testing very easy for ivory dealers to shift stock about. THe local trade has an inexplicably large amount of ivory when you consider it is all meant to be sourced from Thai elephants that die "natural deaths"

Good to see that it has been seized.....lets hope none of it finds its way onto the home market.

....bit late for the elephants though

[yankee99]

Laos seems to have a big demand for ivory

[Trentham]

I despair for the future of our planet. Mankind has caused and is causing the extinction of countless species. The damage we do is evil and is permanent. It is humans who should be exterminated if our world is to continue as the beautiful place it once was. Elephants, tigers, turtles, rhinos....the list is endless that humanity is quickly destroying. We pollute our seas, our land, our air. Australia is destroying its Great Barrier Reef, China is poisoning itself, Indonesia is smoking out the world every year. Climate change is really occurring and all we do is fart around [no pun intended] and continue to poison and pollute and exterminate the only world we will ever have. The sooner we get another ebola/sars/AIDS/ malaria that wipes us out - the better.

Mankind is the ONLY species on Earth that can be described as EVIL.

[cumgranosalum]

Laos seems to have a big demand for ivory

not really - it is an intermediary largely due to ineffective enforcement. What used to be the "Golden Triangle" is now a "hub" for all sorts of trade in endangered animal products.....largely overseen by Chinese or even Vietnamese interests.

[cumgranosalum]

The wholesale slaughter of Pangolins is something that gets overshadowed by the Ivory, which is a shame because this species is seriously threatened by the bizarre mis-held beliefs of people in China and Vietnam, in particular relating to their value in TCM.

[bkk75]

I despair for the future of our planet. Mankind has caused and is causing the extinction of countless species. The damage we do is evil and is permanent. It is humans who should be exterminated if our world is to continue as the beautiful place it once was. Elephants, tigers, turtles, rhinos....the list is endless that humanity is quickly destroying. We pollute our seas, our land, our air. Australia is destroying its Great Barrier Reef, China is poisoning itself, Indonesia is smoking out the world every year. Climate change is really occurring and all we do is fart around [no pun intended] and continue to poison and pollute and exterminate the only world we will ever have. The sooner we get another ebola/sars/AIDS/ malaria that wipes us out - the better.

Mankind is the ONLY species on Earth that can be described as EVIL.

Well said. It's time humanity ended for a better enlightened species.

[IamNoone88]

Whether it sex slave trafficking, human trafficking, hard drugs, Tiger pelts, ivory or the demise of some other rare species through trafficking, Thailand features either at the centre or just off centre.

[cumgranosalum]

It doesn't seem that Kenya has any capability to interdict these shipments.

Or maybe it's a lack of motivation. More enforcement needs to be done outbound if this illilcit trade is ever going to be stopped.

Kenya is the source for a lot of Elephant and Rhino products.....but although efforts are being taken it is an almost impossible task.

The real problem is that people OUTSIDE Kenya can make stella sums of cash from these products and give the general poverty inside Kenya. The relatively small sums paid to locals by these people are all the same, an irresistible temptation for many Kenyans who are simply struggling to get by.

What is needed is a cessation of the trade and market for these products around the world. If you buy Ivory or any Traditional Chinese medicine, you are contributing directly to the demise of several species of flora and fauna around the world.....it is the demand that needs to be stopped.

Edited December 19, 2015 by cumgranosalum

[The Deerhunter]

A month for DNA? Things have really gone down hill since Koh Tao. Last year were knocking out DNA test in about 6 hours.

Yea, as they must gather samples from the tusks and also from cadavers from Nigeria to compare with, it's not like they have an elephant DNA database.

If you have a sample and a suspect to compare too then it will be much quicker!

It is not like they need to match it to an individual elephant like in human crime where they want to match an individual to committing a crime, although that may be possible if they have DNA samples of poached elephants...

All that is really probably needed is the type. "West African elephant DNA", as opposed to Thai or Myanmar or Indian type elephant DNA.

[cumgranosalum]

It seems clear that Samui was considered a "safe backwater" to get the ivory into the country - no doubt someone received some cash for helping out.

It would be nice f any corrupt officials were detected and punished.....it would also be nice to know how long this "backdoor" has been open - i.e. how much has come into the country before this haul was discovered

Edited December 19, 2015 by cumgranosalum

[cumgranosalum]

A month for DNA? Things have really gone down hill since Koh Tao. Last year were knocking out DNA test in about 6 hours.

Yea, as they must gather samples from the tusks and also from cadavers from Nigeria to compare with, it's not like they have an elephant DNA database.

If you have a sample and a suspect to compare too then it will be much quicker!

It is not like they need to match it to an individual elephant like in human crime where they want to match an individual to committing a crime, although that may be possible if they have DNA samples of poached elephants...

All that is really probably needed is the type. "West African elephant DNA", as opposed to Thai or Myanmar or Indian type elephant DNA.

DNA is DNA - once processed you can make conclusions - just because you are drawing a more "general" conclusion, it doesn't alter the testing process.

[The Deerhunter]

Laos seems to have a big demand for ivory

Um! Direct border link to China?????? Possible connection in there somewhere???? Laos probably has large Chinese funded underground carving workshops funded and supervised from the north and supplied from Africa via the rest of S.E.A. That keeps the dirty work out of China.

[Lupatria]

If tourists were born with tusks Pattaya would be a huge graveyard.

[cumgranosalum]

Here's a report on the illegal wlidlife trade in Laos' Golden Trianlge....

"Sin City"

https://issuu.com/eia1984/docs/eia_sin_city_-_final_med_res?e=1794524/11920706

[Transporter]

Maybe the governments across the whole planet should call an ivory amnesty like they do with guns and knives in the UK.

[animatic]

I I think that is 3 shipments sent from Nigeria and intercepted in southeat asia ports in just the last few days. the buyers and sellers

must be feeling heat from somewhere and are trying to get illegal merchandise into a safer place to hide and process it.

Although one newsphoto showed some of the ivory had already been carved when it was intercepted. Most was still in natural

form of a natural tusk with a guesstimate of a final destination of Vietnam and some speculate N. Korea.

More likely the final destination is China, and Laos is a perfect route to the

biggest market for life rejuvenating products derived from the deaths of endangered species.

Ground tusks and pangolin scales are thought, spuriously, to enhance virility in aging men.

<deleted>; just take Viagra and be done with it....

Edited December 19, 2015 by animatic

[RayHaas]

281 tusks means about 140 elephants were killed for no reason except for greed.

Those that buy ivory carvings and such are just as guilty as those who do the killing.

Does not 100% mean they killed the elephants.

[jacko45k]

281 tusks means about 140 elephants were killed for no reason except for greed.

Those that buy ivory carvings and such are just as guilty as those who do the killing.

Does not 100% mean they killed the elephants.

Yeah they waited around until they died of old age......

Not sure tusks would last long at any graveyard site.

[Trentham]

281 tusks means about 140 elephants were killed for no reason except for greed.

Those that buy ivory carvings and such are just as guilty as those who do the killing.

Does not 100% mean they killed the elephants.

If you wish to be so pedantic you could claim that 281 tusks means 140 and a 1/2 elephants. You know that near enough to all of them were killed. We have all seen the documentaries.

[ThaiWai]

Spread a rumor that the Chinese want ground up Nigerian human hand bones for erection enhancement. In a year, not one Nigerian will have hands (except for the last guy who would probably remove one of his remaining hands to sell to the Chinese). No more elephants die.

[cumgranosalum]

281 tusks means about 140 elephants were killed for no reason except for greed.

Those that buy ivory carvings and such are just as guilty as those who do the killing.

Does not 100% mean they killed the elephants.

You don't appear to understand that the whole business is driven by a market - so those who participate in the market, participate in the killing.

Edited December 19, 2015 by cumgranosalum

[cumgranosalum]

Spread a rumor that the Chinese want ground up Nigerian human hand bones for erection enhancement. In a year, not one Nigerian will have hands (except for the last guy who would probably remove one of his remaining hands to sell to the Chinese). No more elephants die.

..and today's award for the most facile post goes to........

[louse1953]

One day we will be the only animal left.

[ThaiWai]

I despair for the future of our planet. Mankind has caused and is causing the extinction of countless species. The damage we do is evil and is permanent. It is humans who should be exterminated if our world is to continue as the beautiful place it once was. Elephants, tigers, turtles, rhinos....the list is endless that humanity is quickly destroying. We pollute our seas, our land, our air. Australia is destroying its Great Barrier Reef, China is poisoning itself, Indonesia is smoking out the world every year. Climate change is really occurring and all we do is fart around [no pun intended] and continue to poison and pollute and exterminate the only world we will ever have. The sooner we get another ebola/sars/AIDS/ malaria that wipes us out - the better.

Mankind is the ONLY species on Earth that can be described as EVIL.

The planet has survived for billions of years and will continue to do so. Various species die at the rate of 200 to 2000 per year (various theories). Don't despair for the planet. It will be fine when the humans are gone.