Bangkok
– Thai police on Friday raided an illegal wildlife warehouse believed to have exported ‘tons’ of protected species every week.
Acting on a tip-off, Thailand’s Nature Crime Police Division raided the warehouse in Ayutthaya province, 90 kilometres north of Bangkok, and seized snakes, turtles, tortoises and pangolins.
‘We know of at least 3 metric tons of live turtles, snakes and pangolins being secretly moved from Thailand to other countries on a weekly basis throughout much of the year,’ said Steven Galster, director of FREELAND, an international organization dedicated to ending the illegal wildlife trade.
The police raid was the result of several months of investigation, cooperation with the NGO and tip-offs from arrested members of the syndicate.
‘In the past, portions of these shipments were seized along highways and border check points, resulting sometimes in the arrest of truck drivers,’ Galster said. ‘Today’s bust is different: it included the discovery of a major secret holding facility and the arrest of one of the major traffickers.’
It is believed that several other such secret holding facilities still exist.
Thailand is known as a hub for the illegal trade in wildlife from South-East Asia, which supplies the global market with more than 10 billion dollars worth of protected species anually to be sold as pets or food.