SE Asia to build law enforcement network

SE Asia to build law enforcement network

Associated Press, Bangkok

Southeast Asian countries are expected to establish the world's largest law enforcement network to fight cross-border smuggling of endangered animals, an official said on Thursday.

Conservation groups estimate illegal wildlife trade is massive problem -- fueled in part by the global economy and the Internet. Criminal gangs make as much as US$7 million a year, trading everything from tiger parts to live orangutans to pythons.

Experts from CITES -- the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species -- and law enforcement officers from every country of Southeast Asia, along with China and the United States, are meeting this week in Khao Yai National Park in northeastern Thailand to lay the groundwork for the network.

Conservation officials from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations are expected to conclude their talks by signing a memorandum of understanding. ASEAN environmental ministers will then convene in Bangkok next month to formerly launch the network. A date has not been set.

"We've drafted a memorandum of understanding on cooperation between ASEAN countries," said Schwann Tunhikorn, a deputy director general in Thailand's Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.

"Southeast Asia is one of the hot spots for biodiversity," he said. "Some of the species have been targeted for illegal trade. It's only through joint (cooperation) of the Southeast Asian countries that we can curb it."

When Thailand last year hosted the international CITES conference, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra proposed setting up such a "wildlife Interpol" to combat wildlife trafficking in Southeast Asia.

As major markets for illicit wildlife, the participation of the United States and China is considered crucial.

A U.S. law enforcement official, who is attending the meeting and spoke on condition of anonymity, said the network would compliment their efforts.

He also called on Asian countries to sharpen their investigative skills and ensure that conservation officials have appropriate police powers to investigate wildlife crimes.