Infamous Malaysian illegal wildlife trader still trades in wildlife
Amanda Yong, The New Paper 13 Aug 09;
THEY call him the 'Pablo Escobar of the wildlife trade'.
Meet Malaysian Anson Wong Keng Liang, the man described as 'one of the world's most brazen reptile smugglers' by the American authorities.
While Escobar, a feared Colombian drug lord, gained global notoriety for running one of the biggest international cocaine-smuggling networks, Wong became infamous for his pivotal role in the world wildlife trade in the 1990s.
'He is probably the biggest illegal reptile dealer in the world,' Mr Craig Hoover, who monitored the animal trade for the World Wide Fund for Nature, told The Los Angeles Times.
He was nabbed by US authorities in 1998. He pleaded guilty to 40 counts of smuggling and violation of US wildlife protection laws, and was also charged with smuggling, money laundering and conspiracy.
He was jailed 71 months and fined US$60,000 ($87,000).
Today, Mr Wong who is around 50, leads a quiet life as a businessman in a small town in Penang.
Contacted by The New Paper for a phone interview yesterday, the media-shy man said: 'I don't wish to bring all that up. It's all in the past.'
He had earlier told Malaysian newspaper The Star that he has remained 'clean' since his return to Malaysia in 2004.
'I don't want to go to jail again. I had difficulties sleeping in the cell,' he said. 'I saw gang fights, rape. Do you think I want to live through that again?'
On the comparison with the late Colombian druglord, Mr Wong said: 'The reports painted me as a monster. I'm no Pablo Escobar... I'm just like any other guy; I just got a bit greedy.'
When we asked if he had ever smuggled any wildlife into or through Singapore, he declined to comment.
'I don't think it's right for me to talk about this,' he said. 'Anyway, Singapore was only a signatory to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (of Wild Fauna and Flora) in the 1980s.'
Didn't his wildlife smuggling business only start in the early 1990s, as previously reported, we asked.
'Yes...' he said. He declined to say more.
Singapore has been a signatory to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora since November 1986.
When contacted, the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority said they have no records of Wong smuggling wildlife into Singapore.
Nabbed in 1998
What is known about Wong's former life has been chronicled in various media reports and even a book, The Lizard King, released in September last year by American lawyer-turned-author Bryan Christy.
Between 1995 and 1998, Wong allegedly ran a wildlife import-export business that trafficked in illegal shipments of protected reptiles from Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, worth almost US$500,000.
The US Department of Justice said he and his associates had smuggled more than 300 reptiles worth US$500,000 into the US from January 1996 to August 1998. The reptiles included rare breeds like Madagascar's ploughshare tortoise, Indonesia's Komodo dragon, and the green tree python .
Along with seven other associates, he was convicted in 2001 after a three-year investigation by the US government's Fish and Wildlife Services officials.
The story of how he was caught reads like the plot of a typical Hollywood thriller.
For five years, US authorities infiltrated his smuggling racket and used an elaborate ruse to trap him.
Codenamed 'Operation Chameleon', the sham came complete with a shell firm known as PacRim Import/Export Company.
Undercover agents posing as animal traders from the company imported and sold many of the reptiles Wong was charged with smuggling.
He was on his way to meet one such agent, George Morrison, whom Wong knew as reptile dealer 'Karl Hart', in September 1998 that Wong was arrested.
Said Mr Wong: 'When I saw George Morrison (at the airport at Mexico City), I had this 'game over' feeling. The first thing that came to my mind was my son. I couldn't bring myself to call home, I was ashamed.'
A Malaysian embassy official told him that he should make the call, he said. 'He gave me a 100 peso call card. By the time my son got to the phone, the line was disconnected. That really hurt.'
Five years since his release, he now lives with his wife and two children - a son and daughter in their 20s.
Does he feel any guilt about how his previous activities may have exacerbated the extinction of endangered animals?
He said: 'Everyone is contributing to species extinction. If you sit in an air-conditioned restaurant... (you are contributing to global warming and in turn, species extinction).
'With deforestation, habitats are lost and species go extinct. Endangered is relative. I still trade in wildlife - legally - and that's the only thing I do. But the quantity is not there anymore nor are there any (big) buyers.'
