| Another 179 turtles were seized by Thai authorities after the searches. |
The Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development and the General Directorate of Customs provided an update on the case of animals seized in Thailand to the press on Saturday. It was reported that four alleged members of the transnational network of smugglers are in custody at customs.
Investigation in progress. This is one of the information given to the press by Max Andonirina Fontaine, Minister of the Environment and Sustainable Development, during a press conference on Saturday. Ernest Lainkana Zafivanona, director general of customs, added that, so far, four people are arrested and in custody in customs jails.
Saturday’s press conference focused on the forty-eight lemurs and more than a thousand radiated tortoises intercepted by Thai authorities on May 1. The Director General of Customs recognizes that a transnational network of smugglers is involved in this traffic. That they have a branch in Madagascar. “We have proof of the actions of these individuals, photos, proof of their connections with contacts in Thailand,” he says.
According to Ernest Lainkana Zafivanona, other suspects, “already identified”, are being sought, without giving further details. Their arrest should speed up the investigation, he said. At the current stage of investigations, investigators cannot yet say when and where, precisely, the animals seized in Thailand left Madagascar. Airports and ports as possible exit points for this contraband are ruled out.
The probability “is very high” that the smugglers took the animals out through “an unoccupied coastal zone”, says the customs boss. He adds that warning signals were, however, already seen in November. Since then, the state, through customs, has worked with a group of international entities to investigate “with the aim of dismantling this network,” he explains. The Thai authorities, the Wildlife Justice Commission and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) are said to have taken part.
The Director General of Customs speaks of “maximum level of vigilance, close surveillance and 24-hour surveillance” of “identified” people, applied since November. The entities cited by Ernest Lainkana Zafivanona are part of the consortium whose investigations led to the seizure of lemurs and radiated tortoises on May 1. The question, why not have acted preventively, and thus short-circuit the network to prevent the illegal export of animals was then asked during the press conference on Saturday.
Repatriation
In response, the first customs official explains that, despite suspicious movements, manifestly illegal acts have not been observed. It is only now that the damage has been done that there have been arrests. This affair once again highlights the porosity of the Malagasy coasts. “There are still gaps in coastal surveillance. Improvements are necessary in the control system of our 5,000 kilometers of coastline,” admits the director general of customs.
Maritime patrols would have been carried out on the East coast and the North-West, in collaboration with the naval forces, “but for a limited time”. The insufficient staff and resources of forestry agents to cover the vast national territory and its protected areas is also Minister Fontaine’s response to a question from the press on Saturday. It is almost certain that the animals seized in Thailand, especially lemurs, were taken illegally from reserves and protected areas.
Likewise, it is certain that these animals were transported by land before being loaded into boats. It seems difficult to hide cages of adult lemurs, even transported in small groups. The member of the government was asked how such a large shipment of animals supposed to be ultra-protected could have been transported to the coast without there being any report.
The difficulty of covering the territory has already been one of the flaws at the time of the fight against rosewood trafficking. The Minister of the Environment and Sustainable Development assures, however, that all those involved in this smuggling of wild animals will be tracked down and brought before justice. In parallel with the investigation, Max Andonirina Fontaine affirms that Madagascar is requesting the repatriation of its lemurs and radiated tortoises.
Repatriation is provided for in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Thailand, like Madagascar, are signatories to this convention. However, discussions for the repatriation of animals seized in Thailand are only just beginning. Episodes in the fight against trafficking in pinkwood also lead us to predict that negotiations for repatriation could be long.
