Thai police arrest 'kingpin' in Asian wildlife trafficking
BANGKOK --- Thai police have arrested an alleged kingpin in Asia's illegal trade in endangered species, dealing a blow to a family-run syndicate that smuggles elephant ivory, rhino horn and tiger parts to Chinese and Vietnamese dealers.
Boonchai Bach, 40, a Vietnamese national with Thai citizenship, was arrested on Friday evening over the smuggling of 14 rhino horns worth around $1 million from Africa to Thailand.
His downfall follows the December 12 arrest of Nikorn Wongprachan, a Thai National Parks and Wildlife Conservation official, at Bangkok's main airport as he attempted to smuggle the rhino horn from the quarantine section to a nearby apartment.
The horn was smuggled into Bangkok by a Chinese man who was arrested a day before on arrival from Johannesburg, South-Africa.
The police sting led to Boonchai, who financed the network.
"This is a major smuggling syndicate and Boonchai is a ring leader ," General Ch ale rm ki at Srivorakan, deputy national police chief, told reporters Saturday after the suspect arrived at Suvarnabhumi airport ahead of his remand.
"Boonchai admitted he was involved," Chalermkiat said, adding he faces up to four years in jail for smuggling parts of protected animals.
For years Boonchai and the Bach family are believed to operated with impunity from Nakhon Phanom in northeast Thailand, bordering Laos – linchpin players in a multimillion-dollar trade in illegal wildlife.
The town is a pivot point in Asia's wildlife trafficking chain, in part because it is the narrowest neck of land for smuggled goods to transit through Thailand, into Laos and onto Vietnam, a major market for animal parts used in traditional medicine.
Freeland, a countertrafficking organization which works closely with Thai police, said the Bach family are part of a sprawling Southeast Asian crime organization dubbed "Hydra."