Endangered animals including elephants, rhinos and pangolins, as well as protected timber, particularly tropical hardwoods, have been seized in a joint INTERPOL – World Customs Organization (WCO) operation to stop wildlife and timber trafficking. From 2 – 27 October, customs and police officers coordinated some 500 arrests worldwide and more than 2,000 confiscations of animals […]

In Dec 2019, the Met Police Wildlife Crime Unit received intelligence from UK Border Force, via the National Wildlife Crime Unit, regarding the seizure of a postal package containing an object believed carved from elephant ivory that was destined for export to China. Notification was given of a further two seizures made by Border Force […]

A man has been arrested after a large collection of sperm whale teeth was seized. Thames Valley Police said the 49-year-old from Grove, Oxfordshire, was arrested “on suspicion of offering for sale a specimen of an endangered species, namely whale teeth”. The force’s rural crime taskforce said the ivory teeth were worth about £18,350. The […]

A Chinese medicine practitioner who admitted to being involved in the illegal trade of endangered wildlife has been sentenced at Northampton Crown Court. Lei Zheng, of Holkham Walk in Corby, was charged with seven counts of selling or keeping endangered species for sale including Pangolin, Musk, Seahorses and four species of plants. On Thursday, September […]

Relaxation of Covid-19 travel restrictions saw the return of the ‘glass eels in a suitcase’ modus operandi. A joint operation by European law enforcement entities has dealt yet another major blow to organised crime groups involved in global glass eel trafficking. Operation Lake VI ran from November 2021 to June 2022, with Europol, EFCA, OLAF, […]

More than £60k has been seized from a man in Derby who illegally traded in the ivory from elephants killed by poachers between the 1970s and 1990s. Ngie Law, of London Road, was convicted in August 2021 of 18 different counts of buying, selling, and possessing the ivory goods without a permit, and fraudulently evading […]

A man from Derby has been sentenced in connection with the illegal trade of ivory from endangered animals. Ngie LAW pleaded guilty to 18 different counts of buying, selling and possessing the ivory goods without a permit, and fraudulently evading duty, between 2011 and 2016. It follows a lengthy investigation, which began in November 2016 […]