Use Al Capone tactics to fight elephant killers, says Duke

THE Duke of Cambridge has urged international law enforcement to tackle illegal ivory traders by following the tactics used to snare Al Capone.

The Duke, who gave a speech outlining plans to end the illegal wildlife trade at a conference in London, said the world must treat it as the “serious organised crime that it is”.

By cracking down on the trade of animal parts, which was often seen by criminal gangs as “a lucrative and relatively low-risk activity”, police and border forces would also capture drug lords and people traffickers, he said.

Similarly, Al Capone, the notorious Chicago gangster, eluded police efforts to convict him of murder, but was eventually imprisoned on tax evasion charges.

The Duke’s comments came as African governments called for a $1billion (£755million) commitment to help fight the poaching syndicates that slaughter elephants daily. Trafficking in ivory, rhino horn and other wildlife products is thought to be worth £18billion a year, making it the world’s fourth largest organised criminal industry.

The first illegal wildlife trade conference in London in 2014 led to a ban on the ivory trade in China which came into force earlier this year. But African leaders and conservationists have warned that rhetoric has not translated into the commitment of resources equal to the scale of the challenge. Addressing those gathered in London to discuss efforts to combat the illegal wildlife trade yesterday, the Duke said: “It is heartbreaking to think that by the time my children are in their twenties, elephants, rhinos and tigers might well be extinct in the wild.”

He added: “The steps you take to tackle illegal wildlife crime could make it easier to halt the shipments of guns and drugs. Remember, Al Capone was convicted of tax evasion, not murder.”