Law enforcement agencies from 62 countries in conjunction with international organizations such as Interpol and Europol have conducted a series of coordinated raids against wildlife smugglers in Asia, Africa and Europe in a crackdown operation codenamed "Cobra III."
The operation resulted in over 300 arrests and over 600 seizures of wildlife contraband, from several tons of ivory and rhino horn to whale ribs and sea horses, according to a statement released by the organizers of the operation in Bangkok, The New York Times reported.
Eight animal trafficking kingpins were among those arrested in the operation, which was conducted between May 4 and 27 and planned by the Southeast Asian-based Asean Wildlife Enforcement Network (ASEAN-WEN). The organization works in tandem with regional officers from wildlife, customs, police and other agencies, according to The Guardian.
TVatanarak Suranartyuth, a senior officer with the network, said this year's operation "was the most successful so far." It was the first time that countries from the European Union had participated.
"The trafficking of endangered species remains a problem in the EU and beyond," Europol director Rob Wainwright said. "We will continue our efforts to fight these cruel crimes, to ensure a safe environment for endangered species in Europe and all over the world."
The wildlife contraband seized in the Cobra III operation included about 12 tons of elephant ivory, out of which 4.3 tons was recovered from Thailand (originally from the Democratic Republic of Congo), 3.1 tons from Kenya, 3.7 tons from Singapore, 1.3 tons from Mozambique and 0.6 tons of ivory from Uganda, according to The Examiner.
Law enforcement agencies also confiscated 126 rhino horns from Momzambique, Vietnam, Namibia and Kenya, along with one ton of abalone from South Africa. Other seizures included a speedboat full of live tortoises, lizards, spiders as well as a reported "249kg of pangolin scales and about 10kg of bornbill beak" in Hong Kong.
Moreover, Europol agents retrieved 10,000 dead sea horses and more than 400 live turtles and tortoises in the U.K. apart from the 300 seized in Croatia. Officials also took possession of 16 whale ribs from the Netherlands and 20kg of illegal live leeches, in addition to 25kg of coral from Bulgaria and 90kg from Spain.
