Organized Criminal Gangs Deal Wildlife and Drugs

LONDON, United Kingdom, June 18, 2002 (ENS) - While conservation groups are working hard and spending millions to save endangered species, their efforts are being undermined by organized gangs conducting a hybrid drug and wildlife trade. Live snakes stuffed with condoms full of cocaine are shipped across borders; live snails packed with heroin travel by air. Drug money is laundered through pirate timber companies.

A new report from the World Wide Fund for Nature and its investigatory branch TRAFFIC, documents the lucrative links between the drug trade and the wildlife trade conducted by organized criminal gangs.

U.S. Customs inspector documents confiscated wild animal parts. (Photo courtesy USFWS

Organized crime groups dealing in wildlife include Colombian drug cartels, Chinese Triad groups, the “red mafia” from the former Soviet Union who use violence to control the illegal trade in caviar, west African and West Indian groups. But, the conservationists found, "much illegal wildlife trading starts at the level of small networks which consist of fellow collectors/enthusiasts or family members."

Stuart Chapman, head of WWF-UK's species program said Monday, "This report confirms what many have suspected. The huge profits that can be made from wildlife trafficking are acting as a magnet to organized crime networks. The profits, sometimes worth up to 800 percent, combined with the low risks of detection and lack of serious punishment, make illegal wildlife trade very attractive to criminals."

"Ounce for ounce, wildlife products such as rhino horn or deer musk can be worth more than Class A drugs or gold," confirms a study into wildlife crime commissioned by the UK government and carried out by Wolverhampton University last year.

The WWF and TRAFFIC investigators found that about half the wildlife criminals prosecuted in the United Kingdom have previous convictions for drugs, violence, theft and firearms offenses, a pattern that they say shows up around the world.

In Brazil, recent estimates suggest that up to 40 percent of illegal drug shipments are combined with wildlife.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reports that more than a third of cocaine seized in the United States in 1993 was associated with wildlife imports.

The report identifies five broad categories of activity: specialist specimen collecting; skins and furs, and traditional Asian medicines; activities linked to drug trafficking; caviar trafficking; and illegal timber trade.

"Each of these categories has its own often highly organized methods, markets, routes and tricks of the trade, which include concealment, misdeclaration, permit fraud and the laundering of illegal wildlife products through the complexities of re-exports.

The report details many links between illegal wildlife trade and organized crime.

Legal shipments of wildlife are used to conceal drugs as customs officers at Heathrow, discovered in 1996 while inspecting a consignment of live snails. They were packed with heroin.

Confiscated items of wildlife trade (Photo by Steve Hillebrand courtesy USFWS)

Venomous snakes are used by criminals to guard or conceal drug caches and consignments.

The same smuggling routes are used for drugs and wildlife. In Latin America, WWF and TRAFFIC report, powerful drug cartels operate in countries where many endangered species are found, and use their covert distribution networks to profitably trade in these species as well as drugs.

The money from drug dealing is laundered by setting up trading businesses such as illegal logging operations.

Wildlife products are used as a currency to barter for drugs, and to launder drug traffic money. Planeloads of smuggled birds from Australia have been exchanged for heroin in Bangkok, with the drugs being flown back to Australia for sale, the groups report.

Despite the level of seriousness of these offenders, wildlife crime offenses are often not taken seriously by those who make and implement the law – whether in the UK, European Union or global context. The level of enforcement "fails to reflect the potential global threat they pose to biodiversity," say WWF and TRAFFIC.

In April 2002, the UK government created the National Wildlife Crime Intelligence Unit, but the conservation groups say while this is a step forward, it is not enough to stop the trafficking in wildlife or drugs.

"Although this will gather vital information on markets, criminals and networks, the enforcers will remain powerless to arrest criminals for wildlife trade offenses involving critically endangered species unless the penalties are increased," WWF and TRAFFIC say.

The National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS) assessment of the UK market for endangered species and the involvement of organised criminality in wildlife crime conducted in 2001 concludes that wildlife crime, including international smuggling of endangered species, is on the increase.

It is attractive to organized crime groups, especially those with smuggling capabilities, due to the combination of low risks, weak penalties, and high profits, the NCIS found.

"The most significant wildlife crimes involve the taking and keeping of species within the UK and especially the trafficking in endangered species," said the NCIS report.

Crawford Allan, TRAFFIC's global enforcement coordinator, agrees. "We believe the main problems in the UK are a lack of investment in wildlife law enforcement and the minimal punishments under wildlife trade laws that do not act as a deterrent to criminals," he said Monday.

The conservation groups are calling for maximum penalties of five years for wildlife crimes, which will make it possible for authorities to arrest people suspected of these offenses.

TRAFFIC is marking its 25th anniversary. To read its history, click here.

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