Police crack down on ivory trade
Thai police have vowed to suppress the ivory trade in line with an obligation the country has made to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites).
Deputy police chief Pol Gen Chalermkiat Sriworakhan, in his capacity as chairman of a subcommittee overseeing the suppression of the trade in Thailand, said at a meeting to evaluate the results so far that Thailand is a major transit hub and destination for smuggling elephant tusks due to its location and long coastlines.
Last year, authorities seized 99 tusks and 22 pieces of ivory weighing 397.95 kilogrammes.
From January to June of this year, Thai officers seized two tusks and 422 pieces of ivory weighing 334.5kg. Most came from a Gambian smuggler who authorities detained this March.
Pol Gen Chalermkiat said: “We are closely monitoring t he situation in 11 provinces where authorities believe tusks may be crafted and distributed.”
He said in addition to an anti-ivory campaign, authorities have also taken action in 1,629 deforestation cases, as well as arresting 866 suspects and confiscating thousands of protected plants worth 58 million baht.
Meanwhile, Laithongrien Meephan, the owner of an elephant kraal in Ayutthaya and president of the Thai Elephant Club, yesterday sent a petition to Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha claiming his reputation has been tainted by director-general of the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation Chaiwat Limlikhit-aksorn.
Mr Chaiwat earlier asked the Department of Special Investigation to look into whether Mr Laithongrien had falsified the identification documents to verify the origins of some of his elephants. The investigation is ongoing.