As the US government completes the pulverization of the entirety of its seized ivory stockpiles Thursday, Secretary of State John Kerry has called for a smashing of another kind. He has offered a $1 million reward to help dismantle a Laos-based poaching network known as Xaysavang.
The State Department offered the reward, the first of its kind from the US diplomatic wing, on Wednesday as part of the new Transnational Organized Crime Rewards Program, which was established this year by Congress as a tool to assist the US government to bring justice to transnational organized crime syndicates.
"The involvement of sophisticated transnational criminal organizations in wildlife trafficking perpetuates corruption, threatens the rule of law and border security in fragile regions, and destabilizes communities that depend on wildlife for biodiversity and eco-tourism," Secretary Kerry wrote in a statement. "Profits from wildlife trafficking, estimated at $8-10 billion per year, fund other illicit activities such as narcotics, arms, and human trafficking."
Kerry said the Laos-based Xaysavang network facilitates the killing of elephants and rhinos for their tusks and horns. The poaching group has ties to criminal activity in South Africa, Mozambique, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, and China, Kerry said, adding that several major seizures of illegal wildlife products have been linked to Xaysavang.
The criminal group operates from a hotel in central Laos, according to a 2012 report by Media24 Investigations.
The poaching group is reportedly well-embedded in South Africa. In 2008 five suspects with ties to Xaysavang were arrested for allegedly trying to sell rhino horns to an undercover officer for $60,000, Media24 Investigations reported.
In the video below, Thai national Chumlong Lemtongthai, who Media24 Investigations reports is a senior Xaysavang director, is seen facilitating an illegal rhino hunt on a South African ranch. The footage in the video is graphic.