COPS NAB ‘MAJOR BROKER’ IN IVORY SMUGGLING NETWORK

>> Police have arrested a major wildlife trafficker suspect believed to run illegal businesses with rhino smugglers in Africa.

Boonchai Bach denied the charge, but investigators insist they have key evidence to implicate the 40-year-old suspect in the wrongdoing, deputy national police chief Pol Gen Chaloemkiat Siworakhan, who also leads a task force to combat the illegal ivory trade, said yesterday.

An initial investigation found a connection between Mr Boonchai and rhino trade gangsters nabbed by the authorities in December last year, he said, adding the operation to arrest the man was carried out under a court arrest warrant.

Three suspects — a Thai plant quarantine official at Suvarnabhumi airport and Vietnamese and Chinese nationals — were accused of colluding to smuggle 14 rhino horns, worth about 50 million baht, from South Africa to Thailand.

The officers suspected Mr Boonchai, Vietnamese Thai also known as Bach Van Minh, is a “major broker” for the illegal trade, Pol Gen Chaloemkiat said.

The suspect had been spotted by police at a tourist pier near the Thai-Lao border in Nakhon Phanom’s Muang district.

Usually the man runs his businesses in Laos but frequently travelled between the two countries via a checkpoint in the northeastern province.

Police believe he may be involved in other cases of smuggling rhino horns into Thailand, which is used as a transit for items destined for a third country.

Rhino horn is a prohibited item listed under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, also known us CITES. One kilogramme on the black market is said to fetch US$100,000 or around 3.2 million baht.

If Mr Boonchai is found guilty, he could face up to four years in jail and a fine of 40,000 baht.