BANGKOK – The police officers arrested suspects in possession of 48 lemurs and 1,076 star tortoises at a hotel in Khun Krating sub-district, Muang Chumphon district,Chumphon Province, southern Thailand. They seized all the animals and took them to Bangkok.
Pol. Maj. Gen. Wacharin Pusit, commander of the Natural Resources and Environmental Crime Suppression Division, along with representatives from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, held a press conference on May 1 to announce the arrest of a major international wildlife trafficking ring at the Central Investigation Bureau in Bangkok.
Six suspects were arrested in the operation: Mr. Pichitpol (also known as Game) Sriduangmaneechai, 31; Mr. Chitrin Phumali, 39; Mr. Ongarj Sriduangmaneechai, 29; Ms. Wiriyaorn Phumali, 39; Mr. Thaweepong Champathong, 43; and Ms. Chuthamas Chitchaeng, 33.
Pol. Maj. Gen. Wacharin said officials had received a tip-off about a group of international wildlife traffickers smuggling African wildlife into La-ngu district in Satun province before transporting them to Bangkok for onward shipment to third countries. Authorities from different agencies worked together and deployed forces to monitor different routes.
They spotted the six suspects entering Chumphon province in four pickup trucks matching the informant’s description. The officers tracked the vehicles to a hotel near the Khun Krating temple, the suspects’ usual stopover. Upon searching the vehicles, the officers discovered a large number of lemurs and star tortoises hidden inside.
The animals were confiscated as evidence and the suspects were taken into custody for questioning.
While all six suspects denied the allegations, police have evidence that Mr. Pichitpol had previously been arrested for a similar offense. As the suspects are involved in a large international wildlife trafficking ring, the authorities have been monitoring their activities for several years.
The investigation yielded extensive evidence and further investigation revealed that the suspects had traveled to Madagascar and Indonesia to check on the condition of the confiscated wildlife. The seizure of hundreds of lemurs and star tortoises is the largest operation of its kind to date.
According to the investigation, the lemurs and tortoises were caught illegally on Madagascar, an island off the African coast. They were then taken to the island of Sumatra in the Indonesian province of Aceh before being loaded onto a ship and brought ashore in the Langu district of Satun province.
The plan was to transport the animals to Bangkok, from where they would be shipped to Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea, where they are popular pets and considered lucky charms. Star tortoises, which usually sell for 100,000 baht per animal in Thailand, fetch up to ten times as much in Hong Kong, where they are traded for 1 million baht or more.
The six suspects are initially charged with “possession of controlled wildlife without a permit” and “violations of the Customs Act” They will be transferred to the DNP’s Wildlife Crime Investigation Unit 5 for further court proceedings.
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