Coinciding with the CITES conference running in Bangkok, New York Times Indochina correspondent Thomas Fuller has written a fascinating investigation of a Laotian mafioso known as “the Pablo Escobar of wildlife trafficking.”
From a protected bunker near the Mekong River in Laos, Vixay Keosavang allegedly directs the smuggling of tigers, bears, pangolins, rhino horns, and elephant tusks through a network of crime that spans from South Africa to China.
In a single example of the kinds of deals Vixay puts together, Fuller reports that the man once sold 70,000 snakes, 20,000 turtles and 20,000 monitor lizards to a Vietnamese company in a deal worth $860,000.
Perhaps the most interesting part of the story – which has been reported before – is the fact that Vixay’s alleged deputy, Thai national Chumlong Lemtongthai, used Thai prostitutes to act as Rhinoceros hunters in a massive scam to legally hunt the beasts in South Africa.
The New York Times reports:
One of the tip-offs for the authorities was Mr. Chumlong’s choice of fake hunters: petite Thai women who turned out to be prostitutes. Thai officials who intercepted some of the rhino horns from South Africa could not believe the women had actually bagged the animals.
“It’s a very, very big gun,” one officer said when questioning Mr. Chumlong, according to a video recording by a representative of Freeland who was at the interview.
Questioned by Laotian officials after a query from South African authorities, Mr. Vixay said he “had no idea about suspects arrested in South Africa.” But Thai investigators discovered a photo on Mr. Chumlong’s computer that showed him posing with Mr. Vixay, and a certificate at Mr. Chumlong’s office outside Bangkok that said he had been appointed a representative of Mr. Vixay’s company.
Read the full story here and check Coconuts Bangkok throughout the week for coverage of the CITES conference.
