Monday 17 June 2002

Produced as part of WWF and TRAFFIC's Wildlife Trade Campaign, International wildlife trade and organised crime shows that 50 per cent of wildlife criminals prosecuted nationwide have previous convictions for drugs, violence, theft and firearms offences.

There is strong evidence that this is reflected globally as serious, often violent, organised crime groups get involved in the most lucrative areas of illegal wildlife trade, such as caviar smuggling.

In Brazil, recent estimates suggest that up to 40 per cent of illegal drug shipments are combined with wildlife. The US Fish and Wildlife Service has reported that more than a third of cocaine seized in the US in 1993 was associated with wildlife imports. In the same year, a US Customs inspector in Miami noticed an unnatural bulge in a live boa constrictor that was part of a shipment of 312 animals from Colombia. An investigation revealed that cocaine-filled condoms had been forcibly inserted into 225 of the snakes. A total of 39 kilograms of cocaine was recovered from the reptiles, all of which died.

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

Combating the trade
Three actions are needed to combat the organised, illegal wildlife trade in the UK:

• identify illicit markets;
• identify people and networks within the criminal organisations; and
• hinder criminals by creating stronger legislation and enhanced enforcement, and closing legal loopholes.

Crawford Allan, TRAFFIC's Global Enforcement Coordinator, said: "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. To give the necessary powers to our enforcement agencies, the penalties under COTES (the laws that control wildlife trade within the UK) need to be strengthened to ensure that the maximum penalties are increased to five years, which will make offences arrestable."

In April 2002, the government took a significant step forward in tackling the illegal wildlife trade by creating the National Wildlife Crime Intelligence Unit (NWCIU). Although this will gather vital information on markets, criminals and networks, the enforcers will remain powerless to arrest criminals for wildlife trade offences involving critically endangered species unless the penalties are increased.

The report highlights four clear links between illegal wildlife trade and organised crime:

1. The use of legal shipments of wildlife to conceal drugs. At Heathrow, in 1996, while inspecting a consignment of live snails, customs officers discovered that they were packed with heroin.
2. Enforcers in several countries have reported the use of venomous snakes by criminals to guard or conceal drug caches and consignments.
3. The parallel trafficking of drugs and wildlife along shared smuggling routes. In Latin America, powerful drug cartels operate in the 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 also laundered by setting up trading businesses such as illegal logging operations.
4. Wildlife products are used as a currency to 'barter' for drugs, and to launder drug traffic money. For example planeloads of smuggled birds from Australia have been exchanged for heroin in Bangkok, with the drugs being flown back to Australia for sale.

TRAFFIC
TRAFFIC, the wildlife trade monitoring network, works to ensure that trade in wild plants and animals is not a threat to the conservation of nature. It works in cooperation with the Secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild fauna and flora (CITES). TRAFFIC is a joint programme of WWF and IUCN - The World Conservation Union. www.traffic.org