(MY) Smugglers using Malaysia as transit point

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Saturday May 12, 2007 New Straits Times

 

Smugglers using Malaysia as transit point

 

By EDDIE CHUA

 

eddichua

 

PETALING JAYA: Wildlife smugglers are using Peninsular Malaysia as a

transit point to transport pangolins, freshwater turtles, monitor

lizards and snakes worth millions of ringgit by land to China, where

these animals are in high demand as exotic food.

 

Although Customs and the anti-smuggling unit at the Malaysian-Thai

border have stepped up checks and confiscated consignments of these

animals, they believe the illegal trade continues daily.

 

Kelantan Wildlife and National Parks Department director Pazil Abdul

Patah told The Star that smugglers were taking advantage of the long,

winding and shallow Sungai Golok to smuggle the animals.

 

" The river is about 100km long and easily accessible by road from the

Malaysian side. This makes it a favourite among smugglers. "

 

He said smugglers used illegal jetties and small wooden boats to ferry

the animals across.

 

He said although officers had nabbed some of the smugglers,

enforcement along the river was tedious and difficult.

 

" Furthermore, smugglers are always one step ahead of enforcement

officers, " he said.

 

Investigations by wildlife trade monitoring network Traffic – a joint

programme of the World Wide Fund for Nature and the World Conservation

Union – have revealed that wildlife traders from Sumatra and Borneo

regularly smuggled the animals by sea or air to middlemen in Malaysia.

 

" These middlemen hold the animals in makeshift bays before packing

them into crates, boxes and gunny sacks, and smuggling them to

Thailand, " said Traffic South-East Asia regional senior programme

officer Chris Shepherd.

 

" The animals are taken by land, either through Laos or Cambodia, and

then Vietnam, to China. "

 

He said that in some cases, the wild animals were flown from Kuala

Lumpur or Penang to Bangkok or straight to China.

 

" Those that arrive in Bangkok are put on lorries and smuggled to China

by road. "

 

Less than 72 hours after the animals are smuggled out of Malaysia,

they can be found in China, ready for the cooking pot.

 

Shepherd said frozen pangolin, turtle, monitor lizard and snake meat

were also smuggled to China from Malaysia by sea and air.

 

" In such cases, most of the frozen illegal meats are packed and

disguised as other legitimate meats for export in freezer containers. "

 

He said the volume of pangolins, turtles and tortoises being smuggled

for consumption was alarming.

 

" Wildlife authorities estimated the number of such animals in the wild

is fast declining, with some turtle and tortoise species on the brink

of extinction. "

 

A wildlife department ranger said pangolin catchers were paid between

RM100 and RM200, depending on the weight and size of the captured

animal, while monitor lizards and snakes fetched between RM20 and RM50

per piece.

 

He said anteater meat could fetch as much as RM1,000 per kilo in

restaurants in China while the monitor lizards and snakes go for

between RM150 and RM200 per kilo. Freshwater turtles are sold for

between RM100 to RM300 per kilo.

 

Pangolins and freshwater turtles are considered a delicacy among

Asians, particularly in China, while their skin, bones and other body

parts are believed to cure a broad spectrum of ailments.