skin seizure

[Guest guest]

Dear list, the following is a report from China. Did anybody manage to see

the CCTV report? and if so did you record it because I am very keen to view

this footage, anybody? All the best, Nick.

 

 

CHINA: November 28, 2001

BEIJING - Police arrested three men smuggling the pelts of endangered

tigers, leopards and sea otters over the border from Myanmar into southeast

China's Yunnan province, state television said yesterday.

China Central Television (CCTV) showed the men, two Chinese nationals and

one from Myanmar, standing handcuffed next to the hides of rare Bangladeshi

tigers discovered on their truck. The men pretended their cargo was

jellyfish, CCTV said. Forest police in Baoshan city, 350 km (200 miles) from

the provincial capital of Kunming, caught a Chinese driver but allowed him

to proceed to neighbouring Xiaguan city in order to catch the buyers meeting

the truck, according to CCTV. It said police found the hides of 23 tigers,

33 leopards and 134 sea otters, which fetch high prices as luxury items at

illegal markets in Chinese cities. A policeman shown clutching a tiger hide

with an eye-shaped bullet hole said: " This shows the criminals killed it by

very cruel means. " China's rising living standards and border corruption

have created added incentive for poachers of big cats, coveted for their

skin and body parts used for medicines to cure problems from rheumatism to

impotence. Coats with collars made of shiny, black sea otter fur have come

in vogue in China. CCTV did not say what charges the men faced in the case,

which was still under investigation. China had launched a new crackdown on

the illegal trade of endangered wildlife owned as pets or consumed as

gourmet dishes, CCTV said. Authorities have launched similar campaigns in

the past but organised criminal networks, particularly on China's borders

with Southeast Asia and Russia, have diversified into what is seen as a

relatively low risk business.

REUTERS NEWS SERVICE

 

 

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