Police and national park officials raided an animal farm in Nakhon Pathom today, which is allegedly linked to the smuggling of a baby gorilla from Nigeria to Thailand, which was intercepted at Turkey’s Istanbul airport.
Pol Maj-Gen Watcharin Phusit, commander of the Natural Resources and Environment Crime Suppression Division, said today that his officers and officials from the Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation raided the farm, which was mentioned in the importer’s documentation seized by Turkish officials, as the destination of the baby gorilla, which was falsely declared as being ‘rabbits’.
The Customs Enforcement Smuggling and Intelligence Directorate at Istanbul Airport tracked a caged cargo shipment as part of risk analysis efforts, aimed at protecting wildlife and natural habitats.
Upon inspection, the team discovered that the cage contained a western gorilla, a species listed under Appendix 1 of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), indicating that it is critically endangered.
The baby gorilla has been handed over to Turkish Agriculture and Forestry Ministry.
Watcharin noted, however, that the animal farm in question was not related to the recent seizure of a lemur smuggled from Madagascar.
Atthaphon Charoenchansa, the director-general of National Parks Department, said that he believes that the smuggling of the baby gorilla was carried out by an international wildlife trafficking gang, which might involve some officials in Nigeria, adding that Thailand may be just a transit point for the endangered ape, before being smuggled to another country.
He said that the baby gorilla could fetch several million baht if delivered to its final destination.
