Malaysia: 'Gecko no longer linked to AIDS cure'

Isabelle Lai The Star 12 Sep 13;

PETALING JAYA: The Tokay Gecko is no longer being widely traded as a supposed AIDS cure, but is still in demand for traditional medicine uses, said Traffic South-East Asia.

The wildlife trade monitoring network said millions of the attractively-patterned lizards were being harvested from the wild to supply the traditional medicine trade in East Asia, which has been going on for hundreds of years.

“At the same time, the trade in Tokay Geckos for Novel Medicinal Claims (NMCs), including as a supposed cure for AIDS, has declined markedly,” said its senior programme officer Kanitha Krishnasamy.

She stressed that there was no evidence to believe that it was a cure for HIV or AIDS, pointing out that the World Health Organisation had refuted such claims.

According to Traffic’s report, regional demand for NMC trade in Tokay Geckos reached its peak from 2010 to 2011, after rumours surfaced in 2009 that its extract could provide a cure.

The 2013 report by Olivier S. Caillabet examined the Tokay Gecko trade in the region and included a case study in Peninsular Malaysia, the “purported centre of demand” in the NMC trade.

Despite the decline, it noted that the more prominent Tokay Gecko dealers appeared to be concentrated close to the Thai border, as well as being the source of the lizards entering the country.

“According to dealers interviewed during surveys, the primary consumers of Tokay Geckos for NMCs appear to be Singaporeans and locals. Some even claim the use of Tokay Geckos by Europeans and North Americans for medical research,” said Caillabet.

He said the interviews indicated considerable sums of money were paid, especially for large Tokay Geckos weighing over 300g, with some dealers claiming those weighing over 400g were valued at RM3.26mil (US$1mil).

“However, Traffic does not believe that these statements are credible. There is no evidence that such huge sums of money, as claimed by the dealers in Peninsular Malaysia, have been paid for Tokay Geckos weighing over 400g,” he said, adding that the dealers’ motivations for making such claims were not known.

The Tokay Gecko, sourced mainly from Thailand and Java, Indonesia, is highly in demand in the traditional medicine trade to treat various ailments and is widely consumed in mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Vietnam.

Caillabet said Customs import data revealed that Taiwan had imported around 15 million Tokay Geckos since 2004, while 1.2 million dried Tokay Geckos bound for Hong Kong from Indonesia were seized in 2011.

Missing Tokay gecko may have been sold, say police
Natasha Joibi The Star 12 Sep 13;

SHAH ALAM: The missing Tokay gecko (Gekko gecko) which was linked to the murder of a man is likely to have been sold, said the police.

According to Se­lan­gor police chief Senior Deputy Comm Datuk Shukri Dahlan, police have been trying to track down the missing reptile, but to no avail.

“We believe the animal may have been sold. The missing animal is the motive behind the murder,” he said at a press conference at the Selangor police headquarters here yesterday.

He added that a 60-year-old businesswoman, who is the main suspect, is believed to have hired a group of men to kill Syairul Helmi Azhar.

“The woman has some 16 police records for cheating-related offences.

“We believe the victim was shot while being involved in a scuffle with the hired thugs,” said SDC Shukri, adding that investigations are still ongoing.

Reporters were told that Syairul went missing after he was assigned the responsibility of finding buyers for his friend’s gecko.

His body was found two months later, on Aug 30, slumped in a Proton Saga in a mining pool located in Jalan Rantau Panjang Bestari Jaya.

He was believed to have been shot with a homemade gun.

A total of 16 suspects have been arrested since then, with four freed later.

The gecko that had led to Syairul’s death was nowhere to be found at the crime scene.

The Philippine government has issued warnings against using Tokay geckos, frequently traded for medicinal purposes in Vietnam and China, to treat AIDS and impotence.

Man killed over RM1mil tokay gecko
The Star 10 Sep 13;

SHAH ALAM: A man was killed over a tokay gecko which has a market value of RM1mil for supposedly able to cure various ailments, including HIV.

The man was found slumped in a car near a beverage factory here on Aug 30 of a gunshot wound.

Police have detained 16 suspects, aged between 21 and 60, to assist in the investigations.

Selangor police chief Senior Deputy Comm Datuk Mohd Shukri Dahlan said investigations revealed that the man was killed for stealing a RM1mil gecko after agreeing to look for a potential buyer.

“We also detained a 60-year-old businesswoman, who is believed to have hired someone to kill the man,” he told reporters on Tuesday.

He said the businesswoman, who kept the gecko, told police that she handed over the reptile to the victim as he had promised to find a potential buyer. The man fled with it.

Mohd Shukri said the suspects were believed to have been hired by the woman to locate the victim.

The suspects found the victim, after which a fight broke out that led to one of the suspects to fire a shot which hit the victim.


Mohd Shukri said police seized several items from the suspects, including an iron pipe, six rounds of live ammunition, three spent shells, nine handphones and a screw-driver.

"We have yet to find the gecko lizard," he added.