How undercover sting outwitted pangolin traffickers

Live pangolinGetty Images

The leaders of a global wildlife trafficking gang have been convicted after a four-year investigation and a trial in Nigeria.

They pleaded guilty last month to smuggling the scales of endangered African pangolins.

These “top-of-the-pyramid” traffickers were responsible for half the illegal trade in pangolin scales.

This is the story of how they were outwitted by fake buyers and sting operations – conducted by a small European charity.

Café sting

A young Vietnamese woman is on a dangerous undercover mission.

She is sitting at a table in a café somewhere in Vietnam. Across from her is one of the country’s main wildlife traffickers.

Van - anonymous shot from behind.

Van – not her real name – is posing as a buyer for a Chinese crime boss in a trade illegal in many parts of the world, the trafficking of pangolins which are eaten in Africa, while their scales are used in traditional medicine in Asia.

Outside, a surveillance team watches in case her cover is blown.

“I was nervous for about 20 seconds but then, after that, I thought ‘I can do this’,” she says.

Van’s contact is trying to sell her scales from what the World Wildlife Fund says is the world’s most trafficked mammal, the pangolin.

Researchers estimate that in the decade from 2010, almost a million pangolins were killed to supply trafficking networks.

All eight species – four African and four Asian – are listed as threatened, with three considered critically endangered.

Nigeria Customs Service seizing trafficked animal parts in 2021

Nigeria Customs Service

Van works for the Wildlife Justice Commission, a charity set up in 2015 to disrupt criminal networks making money from wildlife trafficking.

Its lead investigator is Steve Carmody, a hard-nosed former Australian police officer who used to tackle drug gangs.

‘Living the Dream’

“My passion is to catch crooks,” he says, at the charity’s secret base in the Netherlands.

In 2018, Carmody noticed huge seizures of trafficked animal parts hidden in shipping containers en route from West Africa to Asia.

He started gathering intelligence on the Asian buyers, in an investigation called Operation Hydra.

When the Covid-19 pandemic hit in 2020, it offered him a rare and unexpected opportunity.

Big-time wildlife traffickers usually stay hidden, he explains: “You may see their wives flaunting their wealth, but the main traffickers we investigate are not on social media.”

But Covid meant there were fewer shipments and, in desperation, traffickers turned to Facebook to find buyers.

Carmody with phones

“We started using multiple undercovers to talk with these guys,” Carmody says. One was Van, whom he describes as “the perfect person to take that investigation forward”.

She is softly spoken with a steely determination. Being a woman in this business is unusual, but Van says it was an advantage as traffickers were more likely to drop their guard: “They are not as suspicious as when a man approaches them.”

Over months she gained the trust of Morybinet Berete, who is from Guinea in West Africa but was based in Nigeria, the hub for the illicit trade in pangolin scales.

Berete was “living the dream”, says Carmody, “driving a nice car, there was a nice house”. The team gave him the codename Genie for their surveillance logs, because someone liked the Disney film Aladdin.

Despite the difficulties of mounting operations during the pandemic, Carmody says the job was made easier because operators like Berete tend to be business people who have drifted into crime: “They don’t have the skillsets you would see with a normal street-level drug supplier.”

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Van went undercover online, gaining the trust of Berete on WhatsApp. In one video call he can be seen walking into the yard of a compound. He points the phone’s camera at a large pile of a dozen or so sacks. One of them is opened at the top. It’s full of pangolin scales he wants to sell to Van.

There are more sacks across the yard, each stuffed with thousands of scales stripped from the carcasses of pangolins.

‘Animals mean nothing to them’

While undercover, Van had to conceal her true feelings, but two years later she remains shocked.

“A hundred thousand pangolins need to get killed for that,” she says, “I was so sad inside because I love animals. Wildlife is my passion.”

What was Morybinet Berete’s view of the beautiful, secretive creatures whose scales he and his gang were trafficking?

“He’s just doing business. The animals mean nothing to them,” says Van.

But the WhatsApp video proved to be Berete’s big mistake. Investigators used details from it to locate his address.

“It’s like Pablo Escobar telling you where he lives in Colombia, and showing the cocaine in his basement,” says Carmody.

Corruption is a major driver of wildlife crime. Carmody describes the hardest part of any global investigation as finding a “small group of dedicated law enforcement officers that can’t be bought. And once you find them, it’s like finding gold”.

In Nigeria, that means the Nigeria Customs Service (NCS).

Pangolin Scales seized by the Nigeria Customs Service in 2021

Nigeria Customs Service

In July 2021, he tipped off NCS officials, who raided Berete’s compound in Nigeria and seized 7,000 kilos of pangolin scales, with smaller amounts of claws and elephant tusks. They arrested three men, although Morybinet Berete was not at home.

But searching the suspects’ phones led to another big breakthrough – the identities of the Asian buyers.

Big Mac and Fries

That shifted the focus of the investigation from Nigeria back to Vietnam, where a surveillance operation was mounted in March last year to follow the buyers.

The traffickers were given their own codenames. Second-in-command was Benz, thanks to the Mercedes he drove.

Ringleader Phan Chi was Big Mac because someone in the surveillance team was hungry when they named him.

Big Mac surveillance image

Wildlife Justice Commission

Carmody laughs and says: “More embarrassingly, another co-accused is Fries.”

Pretending to be working for a Chinese buyer, Van built their trust, helping to figure out how the trafficking ring worked.

Big Mac bought trafficked scales from Berete who was now on the run in West Africa. The scales were smuggled out of Nigeria -mainly on boats – and sold on to clients in China. There, they were passed off as Asian pangolin scales, which can be legally used in traditional medicine. Shipments were often paid in cryptocurrency tied to the US dollar.

Another undercover investigator coaxed the gang into incriminating themselves. In a WhatsApp video call he asks what they want to buy. “In Nigeria only pangolin,” Big Mac responds.

Benz

Wildlife Justice Commission

Benz said he needed 20 tonnes of scales shipped to Vietnam, complaining that police had seized stock the previous summer. With the evidence mounting, the investigators were closing in.

Last May, the Vietnamese traffickers returned to Africa to buy more wildlife products. From Mozambique, Benz sent video of rhino horn he had earlier hidden in suitcases to smuggle aboard a flight.

Seized rhino horn

Nigeria Customs Service

Days later the gang arrived in Lagos, Nigeria, with Big Mac boasting in a video that he can “send a container from here”.

What he didn’t realise is that surveillance teams had been following him since his arrival in the country. The Nigeria Customs Service pounced.

Big Mac was seized in his hotel room with two phones, providing a treasure trove of evidence.

“This is a guy who did ledgers for each shipment: profit, loss, who he paid, what purpose, where it went,” says Carmody.

“It’s like you’re reading an accountant’s version of a criminal transaction. This evidence is overwhelming, linking these guys to multiple shipments of rhino horn, ivory and pangolin. Big Mac is a big deal. He’s huge.”

‘Top of the pyramid’

Phan Chi (Big Mac), Phan Quan (Benz) and Duong Thang (Fries) were charged with smuggling and trading in pangolin scales and elephant ivory.

Faced with little chance of acquittal, they admitted their guilt on the eve of a trial earlier this month. Morybinet Berete’s brother Mory also pleaded guilty. Other trials will follow.

The four men were sentenced to six years each, avoiding more time behind bars by agreeing to pay fines as part of a plea bargain.

For Steve Carmody, the convictions are ground-breaking. He says until now the focus in Africa has been on big sentences for wildlife poachers. Targeting the key players has been rare: “I can’t underestimate the value of this trial. These guys are the top of the pyramid.”

What about Morybinet Berete, aka Genie, on the run since July 2021 and facing a court order for his arrest?

“I like fishing,” says Carmody. He points to the phones on his desk: “I often throw out a few lines from different phones just to see who bites. Genie keeps biting.”

Soon Carmody, Van and the team hope to reel him in.

Additional reporting by Alex Dackevych

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Travis King: North Korea says US soldier blamed discrimination

Breaking News image

North Korea has said US soldier Travis King crossed into its territory last month because of “inhuman maltreatment and racial discrimination” in the army.

The 23-year-old private dashed across the border from South Korea on 18 July while on a guided tour.

Private 2nd Class (PV2) King “expressed his willingness to seek refuge” in the North, the country’s state media said.

The claims, which are the North’s first public comments on the case, could not be verified independently.

US officials said earlier they believed the soldier had crossed the border intentionally.

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Chuvit claims Sansiri used nominees

Questions Srettha’s legitimacy for PM

Chuvit claims Sansiri used nominees
Former massage parlour tycoon-turned-whistle-blower Chuvit Kamolvisit reveals his latest allegation against Pheu Thai’s PM candidate Srettha Thavisin at the Davis Hotel, which he owns, in Bangkok on Tuesday. Somchai Poomlard

Political activist and whistle-blower Chuvit Kamolvisit alleged on Tuesday that the property developer Sansiri Plc nominated a housekeeper and a security guard to take out a 1-billion-baht loan from a subsidiary to purchase land in the Thong Lor area of Bangkok.

Mr Chuvit hosted a press conference to reveal the alleged shareholding fraud of Sansiri, which was operating under its former CEO, Srettha Thavisin, now the prime ministerial candidate of the Pheu Thai Party.

Mr Chuvit claimed Sansiri used these two nominees — a housekeeper and a security guard — to take out a 1-billion-baht loan from its subsidiary to pay a landowner 565 million baht. He said no one appears to know what the rest of money was spent on.

The housekeeper was later identified as Ms Pinit (surname not disclosed), who lives in Maha Sarakham province.

She was found to have held 99% of the shares in the subsidiary, but there was no recorded data of her making corporate tax payments.

Another nominee — a security guard identified as Mr Somsak (surname also withheld) — was found to have owned 1% of the company.

He was also listed as the board member of five firms, including a transport service company associated with another Sansiri project.

Mr Chuvit said after the subsidiary sold the plot to Sansiri, the company was abandoned.

In light of this, Mr Chuvit asked whether Mr Srettha was qualified to serve as the next prime minister — if his government was going to be overseen by nominees.

“I will ask the Stock Exchange of Thailand to check on the governance of Sansiri and ask the Senate for a review of Mr Srettha’s qualifications [to become PM],” he said.

Pheu Thai deputy leader Phumtham Wechayachai said Mr Srettha’s qualifications would be reviewed according to the relevant regulations.

He also expressed confidence Pheu Thai could garner more than the 375 votes it needs for Mr Srettha to become prime minister and for the party to form a new government, adding it is in talks with the Palang Pracharath Party and United Thai Nation Party about serving as coalition allies.

Last week, Mr Srettha sued Mr Chuvit for 500 million baht for defamation over comments made about another land purchased earlier by Sansiri.

Mr Chuvit implied Sansiri had attempted to dodge paying taxes.

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Commentary: China property giant Country Garden’s woes – the good, the bad and the very ugly

But does billionaire businesswoman Yang Huiyan, who held a 52.6 per cent stake as of the end of July, still have faith in Country Garden’s turnaround, despite a history of funding support? Her outsize ownership can materially change the builder’s financial policy and its attitude toward bond holders. 

In China, capital-intensive real estate development is long past its prime, while property management and services are the future. Indeed, in the first half, Country Garden Services Holdings Co is expected to report up to 2.6 billion yuan in net profit, while the troubled development unit may see up to 55 billion yuan in net loss.

To figure out whether the distressed tycoons are willing to negotiate on debt, it’s important to look at the relationship between their business divisions. 

END OF THE ROAD

Call me hard-nosed, but Yang may no longer care. Country Garden and Country Garden Services are sister companies, both ultimately controlled by Yang.

In late July, the 41-year-old gave about 55 per cent of her personal stake in the property management unit to a charity founded by her sibling, while keeping the voting rights. The charity will hold the shares for 10 years. 

This corporate structure is in stark contrast to, say, Sun Hongbin’s empire. Sunac Services Holdings is controlled by the development unit, Sunac China Holdings. As such, the billionaire has a financial incentive to restructure Sunac China and even offer sweeteners. 

Whatever happens to Country Garden, most investors can agree on one thing: For two years, the builder has tried hard to honour its obligations even as others became delinquent amid the government’s harsh regulatory crackdowns. Country Garden is just at the end of the road. 

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Commentary: Malaysia’s state elections – when referendum takes precedence over reformasi

PN’S MALAY REFERENDUM NARRATIVE

PN further entrenched the image that it has replaced the United Malays National Organisation (UMNO) as the Malays’ spokesperson. Avoiding the “3-3” or “status quo” description of the election results, PN supporters prefer to compare the total number of seats it won vis-a-vis PH and BN and the inroads it made in the Malay majority seats. This is in line with its Malay referendum narrative.

PN’s performance was far superior: Of the 245 seats on offer in the six states, PN won 146 against PH’s 80 and BN’s 19. PN remains ahead even with PH and BN combined.

And to add insult to injury, PN did way better than BN, which only won 19 out of the 108 seats it contested. In this election, only UMNO contested on behalf of BN; its Chinese and Indian partners, the Malaysian Chinese Association and Malaysian Indian Congress respectively, sat it out.  

Solid victories in Kelantan, Terengganu and Kedah have strengthened PN’s Malay referendum narrative. The signs of PN’s progress were already seen in GE15 when PN swept all Kelantan and Terengganu parliament seats, and won 14 out of 15 seats in Kedah.

Traditionally, the contest in these Malay-dominant states was between UMNO and Parti Islam Se-Malaysia (PAS), and the former could still win some seats, or form the government in Terengganu and Kedah.

In this series of state elections, PH lost all 32 seats it contested in Terengganu, won only two of 45 seats in Kelantan, and three out of 36 in Kedah. UMNO’s big guns were defeated in the process.

The Malay unity message PN played during the campaign brought together former rivals and Malay-Muslim nationalist leaders Mahathir Mohamad, Hadi Awang, and Muhyiddin Yassin. This consolidated PN’s hold in the Malay belt.

The Malay referendum narrative also gained traction in PH-BN’s strongholds in Selangor, Negeri Sembilan and Penang. PN increased its seats in Selangor from five to 22, and the increase came from Malay-majority constituencies. It also denied PH-BN the two-thirds majority in the state. PN also made significant inroads in Penang, a PH (DAP) stronghold, by securing 11 seats.

This is quite a coup, considering that PAS (now in PN) only managed to secure one seat in 2018. BN could only win two seats in Penang. Rubbing salt into Anwar’s wounds, Muhyiddin stressed that PN won all three seats in the Permatang Pauh parliament constituency, traditionally the prime minister’s and his family’s seat until the last general election.

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‘Ung Ing’ in Dubai for Thaksin

'Ung Ing' in Dubai for Thaksin
Paetongtarn: Aiding father with checkup

Paetongtarn ‘Ung Ing’ Shinawatra, head of the Pheu Thai Family, has flown to Dubai to take her father, former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, to see an ophthalmologist.

Ms Paetongtarn made the announcement about helping her father via her Instagram account on Tuesday. She also posted an Instagram story with a background song Que Sera, Sera (Whatever will be, will be).

Her latest trip to Dubai, where Thaksin has been residing, came after the fugitive former premier said on Aug 5 that he was putting off his return from self-exile because he needed a medical checkup first.

Thaksin fled Thailand in 2008, shortly before the Supreme Court convicted him for helping his then-wife, Khunying Potjaman Na Pombejra, buy prime land in the Ratchadaphisek area at a discount while he was prime minister. Thaksin posted on X (formerly Twitter) that he had originally planned to return to Thailand by Aug 10, but that now needed to be put back by a couple of weeks.

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Wissanu defends top job picks

Wissanu defends top job picks
Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam

Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam on Tuesday defended the caretaker government’s appointment of high-ranking officials, saying they were needed to fill a potential vacuum left by the mandatory retirement of key officials.

His remarks came after the Pheu Thai Party last week warned the outgoing cabinet not to appoint senior officials, saying the matter should be left to a new government which it is trying to put together.

Mr Wissanu said the new appointments were to find replacements for those retiring at the end of next month, which is the last month on the fiscal calendar, and that they have nothing to do with the annual rotation of state officials. He said the annual reshuffle of senior C-10 officials is overseen by the permanent secretary of each ministry, noting that if the matter had to wait for a new government, the country’s administration would be put on hold.

He also said the cabinet on Tuesday approved proposed appointments, but they would not yet be forwarded for royal endorsement. These appointments would be thoroughly examined with the process likely to take about a month, he added.

Asked about media reports related to the appointment of a new secretary-general of the Office of the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB), Mr Wissanu said he was only making preparations.

The proposed appointment involves a transfer of a police officer to the Justice Ministry, so there are several steps to be taken, he said.

“Let’s see when we’ll get a new government. If we get it soon, the [reshuffle] issue will be left to the new government. But if the new government is set up later than Aug 22, it can’t wait,” he said.

According to media reports, assistant national police chief, Pol Lt Gen Panurat Lakboonto, will be named the new ONCB chief to succeed Wichai Chaimongkol, who retires next month.

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