Revealed: the extent of the trade in rare animals
▶ Border officials join trafficking experts to assess latest smuggling routes and techniques used by criminals
Customs officers in Dubai have seized 53 endangered species of flora and fauna, or products from them, in three years.
Body parts of big cats and pieces of ivory were some of the most substantial finds at the border, an indication that the illegal trade continues to thrive.
Many consignments are destined for the lucrative Far East black market, and Dubai is a popular smuggling route for traffickers of contraband listed by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites).
“Dubai Customs spares no effort to raise awareness around the importance of protecting these endangered species and abiding by international agreements and treaties in this field,” a spokesman said.
Endangered species, live or mummified, should require permits to ensure owners are not breaking the convention’s regulations.
Robin de Bois, a French organisation concerned with endangered wildlife, monitors reports of illegal trafficking around the world. It has listed several cases in its latest report in which the UAE was used as a transit point.
In November, the manager of a commercial farm in north-west India was arrested in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, on his way to Dubai with a bag containing 17 lion claws that had an estimated value of US$24,000 (Dh88,000) on the black market.
Three men were arrested shortly before trying to board an Emirates airline flight to the UAE. The ringleader was ordered to pay a fine of $240,000 or face a 20-year prison sentence.
Lions face a growing threat across Africa because of demand for their body parts. Teeth and claws are mainly used as pendants and amulets, and sold to markets in SouthEast Asia and China.
Cites prohibits the commercial trade in the parts of wild African lions, although as many as 800 skeletons of captive-bred lions are believed to be legally exported from South Africa every year.
Many are destined for Vietnam and Laos, where they are used for treating ailments or as a substitute for tiger bone wine.
The convention said about 150 lion teeth and claws had been exported from South Africa since 2013. There is a similar demand for parts of tigers, jaguars and leopards.
Dubai Customs has linked up with the International Fund for Animal Welfare to train inspectors on how to tackle and prevent smuggling.
Research by the fund indicates that the scale of the online trade in ivory remains significant.
In September, two men were sentenced in Hong Kong to two months in prison for ivory trafficking through Dubai.
They were arrested after arriving on a flight from Zimbabwe, trying to smuggle 60 kilograms of ivory hidden in four computer processors. The haul had an estimated value of $1.2 million.
Also that month, customs officers in Hong Kong opened a container from the UAE and found 350kg of hammerhead shark fins and oceanic whitetip sharks, valued at $36,000.
In February, officials at Quetta International Airport in Pakistan seized four falcons in a wooden box inside a suitcase belonging to a Pakistani national
arriving from Sharjah. The birds had an estimated value of $91,000.
The fund’s latest report, Disrupt: Wildlife Cyber Crime,
shows the extent of the illicit industry. Animals were offered for sale illegally in France, Germany, Russia and the UK over a period of six weeks last year.
Research identified 11,772 protected wildlife specimens, worth more than $3.9m, offered for sale in 5,381 advertisements and posts on 106 online marketplaces and four social media platforms.
“We discovered advertisements and posts offering body parts and taxidermy from cheetahs, leopards, lions and tigers, and live big cats for sale online,” the fund’s Tania McCrea-Steele said.
“We also found more than 150 live primates for sale, as well as rhino horn products, ivory and suspected ivory, and elephant feet, skin and hair products, all available to buy over the internet.”
The UN-Interpol Strategic Report, December 2016 said that environmental crime was one of the top five areas globally.
A workshop in Lyon, France, hosted by the fund and Interpol this month gathered cyber crime experts, academics and technology companies to discuss wildlife crime.
“Interpol’s commitment to tackle wildlife crime takes into consideration the evolving methods by transnational criminal organisations,” said Tim Morris, Interpol’s executive director of police services.
“Traffickers take advantage of the lack of control of the supply chain to conceal wildlife parts in trade transport and shipment, or benefit more and more from the use of the internet, both regular and darknet, to avoid traditional law enforcement.
“We are facing the convergence between two developing threats: wildlife trafficking and cyber-enabled crime.”