Recently, the 16th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 13th National People's Congress voted to pass a decision on comprehensively banning illegal wildlife trade, abolishing bad habits of overconsuming wild animals, and effectively protecting the health and safety of the people.
At the time when people clapped their hands, the Hunan Forest Police disclosed a heavy case that entered the public eye. The amount of money involved was high, the amount of smuggled goods seized was large, the area involved was large, the means of crime were very hidden, and the criminal network was huge. The tip of the iceberg of China's precious and endangered wildlife products "underground black market" is unveiled.
A courier order, leading to a serious case
Nearly a thousand high-nosed antelope horns, "exquisite" ivory sculptures, pangolin scales in bags ... The media recently saw a shocking scene at the Forest Public Security Bureau of Ningxiang City, Hunan Province. This is the goods seized here by handling police in the last 10 months. Currently, the case has been transferred to Ningxiang People's Procuratorate for review and prosecution.
In April 2019, the Ningxiang Forest Public Security Bureau received a clue: Wang from Ningxiang, Hunan Province purchased ivory products via the Internet, and the information on the clue was a courier order number. During the investigation, the police found that Wang bought 8 ivory zodiac plates from Cai from Fujian, and after the "inspection" and "bargaining" online, the two carried out the transaction of receiving and paying online, and then used logistics courier for "delivery".
In May of that year, the police of Ningxiang Forest Public Security Bureau captured the suspect Cai across the province and seized more than 50 precious and endangered wild animal products such as rhinos, snow leopards, eagle owls, and wild camels in his residence. During the interrogation, Cai explained that he, Huang and You were both first-line and second-line, looking for "sources" and contacting buyers.
Subsequently, the police of Ningxiang Forest Public Security Bureau successfully arrested the suspect Huang. During the arrest of Cai and Huang's first-line Chen, the task force seized 48 high-nosed antelope horns at one stroke.
Chen explained that the high-nosed antelope horns seized by the police at his residence were purchased from Renin Guangzhou, Guangdong, and Wu in Loudi, Hunan. According to what he learned, Wei, who is in the northeast, provided the "source" for the two.
On November 1, 2019, the task force captured Ren in Guangzhou, and seized 33 high-nosed antelope horns in his home. On November 6, the task force captured Wu in Loudi, and seized 32 high-nosed antelope as well as a number of wild animal products such as pangolin scales and rhino horn cups. On November 6, the task force captured Wei in Suihua City, Heilongjiang Province, and seized 467 high-nosed antelope horns.
According to Wei's confession, he purchased more than one hundred kilograms of high-nosed antelope horns from Chen and Kong several times, and then sold them to the second-line at a high price to earn the price difference. The task force continued to investigate, and the suspects Chen and Kong were arrested one after another and 394 high-nosed antelope horns were seized from Kong's warehouse.
Up to now, Ningxiang Forest Public Security Bureau has seized a total of 997 high-nosed antelope horns, 3727 grams of ivory products, 327.9 grams of rhino horn products, and more than 1,200 other wild animal products such as eagle owls, snow leopards, and wild camels. The amount is up to more than 26 million yuan, and 12 clues are handed over.
Illegal elements to exploit loopholes, there are loopholes in the line of supervision
Qin Yuekun, director of the Ningxiang Forestry Public Security Bureau, said that the case they investigated was very typical. The criminals broke through multiple lines of supervision through smuggling, online transactions, and logistics.
The police of Ningxiang Forestry Public Security Bureau told reporters that the high-nosed antelope belongs to the national first-class protected animal. At present, the domestic population of the high-nosed antelope is basically extinct. According to the people involved, in this case, all the high-nosed antelope horns seized were smuggled into the country. At present, the police have handed over the clues to the local customs anti-smuggling department.
"China Judgment Documents Network has published a large number of jurisprudences. The cross-border smuggling of high-nosed antelope horns is very large, sometimes thousands of roots can be seized in one case." A wildlife conservationist told reporter that due to the rare and endangered wildlife products, both inside and outside the country, the price difference is relatively large. Some people are willing to take risks and take part in smuggling madly. It is also difficult for the customs anti-smuggling department to crack down.
"In this case we investigated, precious and endangered wild animal products such as ivory, high-nosed antelope horns and rhino horns were 'delivered' in China through logistics express delivery, and some well-known express delivery companies were also involved." Qu Bingtao, director of the Legal Affairs Section of the Ningxiang City Forestry Public Security Bureau, said that in accordance with relevant laws and regulations, logistics and express delivery enterprises should fully perform their responsibilities of receiving and checking, real name receiving, and passing security inspections.
The police handling the case stated that Cai and Huang, etc., used false identity information to handle mobile phone "black cards", conduct "no meeting" and "point-to-point" transactions through the Internet for a long time, and receive "payment" through online banking. The concealment is extremely strong, which has brought great difficulties to the case investigation.
It is necessary to severely crack down on illegal crimes, and also to break the bad habits of consumption
Professionals point out that the reason why smuggling of precious and endangered wild animals and their products has been banned all over the world is that the huge profits are one of the important reasons for criminals to take risks. Although China has maintained a high-pressure situation in cracking down on various crimes that destroy wildlife resources, it still faces many difficulties.
"Smuggling precious and endangered wild animals and their products has a high illegal profit." Dr. Zhou Jinfeng, the Secretary-General of China Biodiversity Conservation and Green Development Foundation (CBCGDF) said. Taking pangolins as an example, the price of a pangolin in Africa is only a few hundred yuan, and it can sell for thousands of yuan after being smuggled into the country.
Public data shows that in 2019, as many as 100 tons of pangolins and products were confiscated by customs across the country. "If included the data that have not been seized, this number will be even greater." Dr. Zhou said that involving the whole society in supervision will help to completely block the "black chain of interest" in trading valuable and endangered animals and their products.
"To crack down such crimes, the forestry, public security, customs, postal, market, and online information departments must form a joint effort to punish them in accordance with law, increase the cost of committing crime, and form a strong deterrent atmosphere." Chen Chunhua, director of Wildlife Protection Department of Hunan Forestry Bureau suggested: "The customs should strengthen the management of entry and increase the intensity of anti-smuggling; the postal supervision department should effectively urge logistics companies to fulfill their social responsibilities and not give the criminals an opportunity; the forest police must not only focus on daily law enforcement, but also must focus on major and important cases. "
Wu Xiaogang, head of the Criminal Investigation Detachment of Hunan Forestry Public Security Bureau, believes that it is necessary to eliminate the soil that breeds such crimes from the source of consumption. Relevant departments should strengthen publicity efforts, guide the public to change customs and habits, eliminate bad consumption habits, and enhance public awareness of wildlife protection.
(Photo credit: XINHUA NEWS)
Original Chinese article:
By / Maggie