FORGED certificates, secret code words and cages of endangered wildlife hidden in backyard sales rooms - welcome to the underground trade in rare Australian animals.
These tactics are keeping smugglers in business in one of the world's biggest hubs for wildlife trafficking.
Blue-tongue and shingleback lizards, skinks and other Australian reptiles are among species illegally sold at Bangkok's bustling Chatuchak Market. The Australian Crime Commission has linked wildlife trafficking from Australia to organised crime groups, with syndicates able to make hundreds of thousands of dollars a trip for smuggled bird eggs on the Asian black market. Experts estimate an Australian lizard can fetch $7500.
"There is a huge amount of money in it, much more than people realise," Flinders University forensic science expert Adrian Linacre said. "And yet the potential to be caught is minimal." A Sunday Mail investigation in Thailand found daily raids of the markets by Thai authorities have driven some operators underground, where once-vulnerable species were openly displayed for sale. Wildlife groups working with Thai police have responded with undercover operations, posing as buyers to work their way up to crime bosses. "The traders have become a little bit more careful about the obvious illegal species," Freeland Foundation officer Onkuri Majumdar, who has taken part in undercover operations in Asia, said.
"But they will use code words, like the species' Latin names or local names, so people who are sort of in the know will understand what is being talked about. "Once you have bought something and established a relationship of trust then they will probably take you to another location where they have the animals hidden."
The Sunday Mail joined Thai authorities on a routine inspection of the market, watching as uniformed officers swooped on cages of protected birds in the labyrinth of crammed lanes. The birds were native to Thailand.
Smugglers had bleached the feathers of one bird to pass it off as a rare albino to fetch a higher sale price, according to the officers.
Iguanas, parrots and rare reptiles are among thousands of animals in the menagerie. In one stall, squirrels were found tied to the top of cages, fastened by a clip around their necks. In another, a lifeless parrot was seen lying in a cardboard box beneath shredded newspaper. But some animals are slipping under the radar amid confusion over inconsistent rules on the export of animals from country to country. Sugar gliders, for example, are banned from export in Australia, but can legally be sourced from Indonesia and legal breeders.
The South-East Asia deputy director for wildlife monitoring network TRAFFIC, Chris Shepherd, said even some species on the banned list were being forgotten, with phony paperwork claiming animals were bred in captivity only adding to confusion. "When the raids are done . . . the only animals seized are local birds, while the non-native stuff is not touched," he said.
"It is this inability to enforce the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora that makes Bangkok an attractive location for illegal wildlife dealers to set up shop.
"Australian birds are often legally bred in captivity within the region, but very often are smuggled in, and from country to country, with paperwork saying the specimens are captive-bred when in fact they are wild caught." Read more : couriermail.com.au
