BANGKOK • Thai police have arrested an alleged kingpin in Asia’s illegal trade in endangered species, dealing a blow to a family-run syndicate that smuggles elephant ivory, rhino horn and tiger parts to Chinese and Vietnamese dealers..
BANGKOK • Thai police have arrested an alleged kingpin in Asia’s illegal trade in endangered species, dealing a blow to a family-run syndicate that smuggles elephant ivory, rhino horn and tiger parts to Chinese and Vietnamese dealers.
Boonchai Bach, 40, a Vietnamese national with Thai citizenship, was arrested last Friday evening over the smuggling of 14 rhino horns worth around US$1 million (S$1.3 million) from Africa to Thailand.
His downfall follows the Dec 12 arrest of Nikorn Wongprachan, a Thai National Parks and Wildlife Conservation official, at Bangkok’s main airport as he attempted to smuggle the rhino horn from the quarantine section to a nearby apartment.
The horn was smuggled into Bangkok by a Chinese man who was arrested a day before, on arrival from Johannesburg, South Africa. The police sting led to Boonchai, who allegedly financed the network.
