BANGKOK: Thai police have arrested a suspected kingpin of wildlife trafficking who allegedly fueled much of Asia’s illegal trade for over a decade.
Police say Boonchai Bach (BOON’-chai back), a 40-year-old Thai of Vietnamese descent, was arrested Friday in a northeastern border province in connection with the smuggling of 14 rhino horns worth over $1 million from Africa into Thailand last month, in a case that also implicated a Thai official and a Chinese national.
He denies the charges against him.
Boonchai allegedly ran a large trafficking network on the Thai-Laos border that spread into Vietnam. According to the anti-trafficking group Freeland, he and his family played a key role in a syndicate that smuggled poached items including ivory, rhino horn, pangolins, tigers, lions and other rare and endangered species.
Thai police arrest suspected kingpin of wildlife trafficking
Thai police arrest suspected kingpin of wildlife trafficking
