The Star 6 Sep 17;
BANGKOK: Due to its strategic location, the sleepy seaside town of Kuala Perlis has become one of the routes used by wildlife smuggling syndicates to traffick a variety of exotic animals to China.
From the jungles in Indonesia, these exotic animals, including pangolins and even orang utan, endure an arduous journey across the sea and land to Kuala Perlis, Padang Besar, Hatyai and Laos to reach their main destination, China.
“The syndicates choose the Padang Besar route because it is the closest route from Indonesia to Thailand.
“They (the wildlife traffickers) travel by boat from Indonesia to the Kuala Perlis port in Malaysia and then to Thailand.
“(Kuala Perlis) is about 40km from the Padang Besar border,” said Padang Besar Thai Customs Service Division director Arthit Visuttismajarn.
Nevertheless, he cautioned that Kuala Perlis-Padang Besar was just one of the many smuggling routes taken by the syndicates to send their “goods” to China, to satisfy that country’s burgeoning demand for exotic animals.
He said should the traffickers succeed in crossing the Malaysian-Thai border in Padang Besar, the exotic animals were handed to other members of the syndicates in Hatyai, who take it to the Thai-Laos border and to China.
Hatyai is an important transit route for wildlife smuggling syndicates.
Thai Customs officials have identified about 11 “risky points” along the 12km stretch of the Thai-Malaysian border separating Perlis and the Sadao district of Songkla, which have been used by wildlife smugglers, and have increased monitoring.
Arthit said that on June 7, his men managed to stop the smuggling of endangered turtles and rare coral at the border.
However, the biggest seizure of exotic wildlife was on July 21 this year at the Padang Besar Immigration Checkpoint when the authorities stopped a Malaysian-registered pickup truck transporting various types of endangered animals, including a pair of two-month-old orang utan hidden inside a suitcase.
Other exotic animals seized from the vehicle were the endangered Hamilton tortoises, Indian Star tortoises and six racoons, said Arthit, adding that a 63-year-old Malaysian driver was detained for questioning.
The Malaysian, who faces 10 years in prison upon conviction, had alleged he was paid to send the animals to another man in Hatyai.
According to Arthit, the Padang Besar customs unit had seized more than 500 pangolins at the border checkpoint over the past several years.
Most of the pangolins, he said, came from Indonesia with Thailand serving as the syndicates’ transit point before they headed for China. — Bernama
'Pointless for Indonesian wildfire smugglers to use Kuala Perlis as transit point to China'
ILI SHAZWANI New Straits Times 7 Sep 17;
KANGAR: Law enforcement agencies in the state have refuted claims that Kuala Perlis is being used as a transit point for Indonesian traffickers to smuggle wildlife to China.
The agencies said it makes no sense for wildlife traffickers to transit at the Kuala Perlis coastline, as the syndicates could have travelled directly by boat to Satun in southern Thailand.
Perlis Wildlife Department director Mohamad Affendi Ibrahim said the syndicates face greater risk of getting caught in Malaysian waters compared to going straight to Satun.
He pointed out that to get into Kuala Perlis' coastal area, traffickers from Indonesia would have to pass Malaysian law enforcement agencies patrolling Langkawi waters.
"It means the traffickers would have to go extra nautical miles and expose themselves to the risk of getting caught by Malaysian sea border patrol teams in Langkawi waters, before they could reach the Kuala Perlis coastline.
"If they wish to smuggle wildlife through Thailand, it only makes sense for them to travel directly to Satun as it is much closer to Indonesia," he explained.
Affendi added that the syndicates would also be taking a greater risk by transiting in Kuala Perlis as they would then have to pass either the Padang Besar or Wang Kelian border checkpoints.
"It is not going to be easy for the traffickers to use the rat lanes to transport wildlife from here to southern Thailand due to the geographical condition.
"That is why in previous cases, wildlife traffickers were caught at the Malaysia-Thai border checkpoints in Padang Besar and Wang Kelian," he said in an interview at his office.
However, Affendi admitted there were a few cases of exotic birds, especially of Burung Murai Batu (White-rumped Shama) being smuggled from Thailand into the country through Kuala Perlis waters.
He said the Murai Batu could be purchased at about RM60 per bird and could be sold in Malaysia for up to RM1,000.
As such, he said the department’s enforcement team is monitoring the Kuala Perlis coastline, especially at the fish landing jetties, where they have caught local men for bringing the exotic birds bought in Thailand without permits.
A villager, who declined to be named, said her relative was once fined by the Wildlife Department a few years back for bringing back a Murai Batu from a village in southern Thailand without a permit.
According to the woman, in her 50s, the relative paid a fisherman in the neighbouring country to transport the bird in the fishing boat to Kuala Perlis.
“He paid the fisherman RM100 for the bird and fees to transport it to here," she said when met in Kuala Perlis.
Affendi was responding to a claim by southern Thailand's Padang Besar Customs Service Division director Arthit Visuttismajarn that Kuala Perlis is being used as a transit point by Indonesian trafficking syndicates to smuggle exotic animals from Indonesia to China.
Bernama reported Arthit as saying that the syndicates picked Kuala Perlis as a transit point as it is the closest route from Indonesia to Thailand by sea.
According to the report, Arthit claimed that from Kuala Perlis, the exotic animals are being transported to Padang Besar before being smuggled to southern Thai and Laos.
The animals are smuggled to China, where the demand for exotic animals is growing.
In response, Perlis National Border Security Agency (Aksem) commander Deputy Superintendent Syed Basri Syed Ali said to date, there are no reports of Indonesian wildlife traffickers using Kuala Perlis as their transit point.
He said Aksem Perlis had foiled several attempts to smuggle exotic animals out and into Malaysia via land in both Padang Besar and Wang Kelian.
"As of now, there is no such information that wildlife traffickers from Indonesia are using Kuala Perlis to smuggle the animals to southern Thailand but we would discuss the matter with our counterparts in Thailand," he said.
In July, Perlis Aksem had arrested three people, including two Thai nationals, in Padang Besar for smuggling 58 bearded dragons and eight tortoises of the sulcata species from Thailand into the country by train.
A month before, Thai wildlife officers arrested a Malaysian man attempting to smuggle two baby orangutans, 51 tortoises and six raccoons across the Thai border.
