Guardian exposes Lao officials’ illegal deals with wildlife traffickers
Photo by Steven Zolneczko
The Guardian recently exposed a decade long smuggling deal between top Lao government officials and at least three leading wildlife traffickers.
The office of the Prime Minister has been breaching local and international laws by allowing traffickers to smuggle hundreds 0f tonnes of wildlife past selected border crossings.
Evidence obtained by the Guardian shows that in 2014 alone, $45 million worth of animal body parts included “agreed quotas requiring the disabling or killing of 165 tigers, more than 650 rhinos and more than 16,000 elephants,” species for which trading has been banned by Lao law and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species(Cites).
Chaninat & Leeds Thai law firm specialize in Thai divorce law and handles contested and uncontested divorce cases among Thai or non Thai residents
The reports show that the dealings yielded profits of hundreds of thousands of dollars for the Lao government treasury.
It is unclear whether the Prime Minister had any knowledge of the dealings. The Lao government has yet to comment on any of the findings.
Read the original article here
{ 0 comments… add one now }