Asian, US police meet on tackling wildlife crime

Monday, January 12, 2009


Monday, January 12, 2009
AFP

Police investigators from Southeast Asia, China and the United States met in Bangkok Wednesday to share strategies for tackling the illegal international trade in tigers, leopards and pangolins. Big cats prized for their skin and body parts and pangolins, or scaly anteaters, which are used in cooking, are under particular threat from organised trafficking gangs in Asia. Investigators from Thailand, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia and Vietnam joined representatives from China and the United States for a three-day workshop on curbing the crime. “Concerted and coordinated joint actions are required to address the illegal exploitation and trade,” said Chumphon Suckasaem, a senior officer with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Wildlife Enforcement Network. Chumphon said the trade had already taken its toll, “threatening to irrevocably damage Southeast Asia’s ecosystems.”