This file photo shows forest rangers from Thailand together with
Cambodian and Laos rangers holding two armed "poachers" during a mock
raid in Khao Yai National Park, Nakhon Nayok province, as part of
training to tackle wildlife rime.
Nakhon Nayok - Camo-clad rangers ambush a camp in a lush Thai national park, kicking away a machete and a firearm and pinning two suspected poachers to the ground -- part of a training exercise to counter a lucrative wildlife trade.
"Go!" team leader Kritkhajorn Tangon
yells as the group tackles the actors, who had near them sambar deer
antlers and a blade covered in fake blood.
Thailand's conservationists are struggling to stamp out the
multibillion-dollar black market in animal parts, finding themselves
outgunned by illegal hunters and outflanked by courts.
The country is a key transit point for smugglers moving on to Vietnam
and China, two of the world's biggest markets for parts from endangered
and protected species.
But efforts by its 14,000 rangers to take down illegal hunters and
loggers are often stymied by a lack of resources and training, with
about 15 rangers killed each year in deadly encounters.
Impunity also reigns for traffickers who are well connected politically
and financially, dodging jail time when there is little iron-clad
physical evidence to keep them behind bars.
Gathering evidence, protecting a crime scene and using forensic analysis
were some of the skills developed by more than a dozen rangers who took
part in the training week led by anti-trafficking group Freeland.
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Among the participants in the event at Khao Yai National Park, which
culminated in Friday's mock scenario, were four officials from
neighbouring Cambodia and Laos.
"Our investigation skills are still weak... when they (rangers)
encounter these situations, they leave loopholes in the collection of
evidence," Kritkhajorn told AFP.
"It could result in the suspect walking free."
Freeland has emphasised the need for material evidence as "it cannot be
manipulated, whereas an eyewitness can retract his testimony", said
country director Petcharat Sangchai, a retired police major-general.
- Transnational gangs -
The training, funded by the British embassy in Bangkok, comes the
same week a Thai court dismissed charges against a suspected wildlife
trafficking kingpin.
He was accused of smuggling $1 million worth of rhino horns to
Thailand but the case unravelled when the sole eyewitness changed his
testimony.
A successful conviction has to be handled "correctly from the forests
to the courts", said Freeland's program director Tim Redford, adding
that widespread wildlife poaching and smuggling involves transnational
organised crime rings.
"These criminals are exploiting loopholes in the law, they are
exploiting weakness of understanding in judges and prosecutors, and
that's why they are winning," he said.
One case which left the Thai public incensed involved construction
tycoon Premchai Karnasuta, who was arrested last February after rangers
stumbled on his camp in a national park in Kanchanaburi province.
Animal carcasses -- including a rare black leopard -- and guns were
found, but Premchai, one of Thailand's wealthiest moguls, denied he was
poaching and was released on bail.
Investigation is pending and a court verdict is expected in March.
The tycoon's case was at the forefront of all the participants' minds
on Friday as the clearest example of what the rich and powerful could
get away with in Thailand.
"If you know who my boss is, you'll get shivers! My boss is
Premchai!" shouted one of the "poachers" during the exercise, as the
rangers laughed in a moment of levity.
Sourse - TheNation
