March 24, 2008
Bangkok - Wildlife police have arrested two vendors and seized more than 200 rare animals including endangered tortoises during a raid at Chatuchak weekend market, police said Sunday.
The sting operation on Saturday in the pet section of the sprawling Chatuchak Market turned up more than two million baht (64,000 dollars) worth of rare otters, slow lorises, birds and 21 endangered Madagascar tortoises.
"Police are taking the suppression of endangered species smuggling very seriously," said Police Colonel Thanayos Kengkasikit of Thailand's environmental crime division.
He told AFP that police arrested one woman and one man and charged them with smuggling endangered species.
The pair denied the charges and were each released on 40,000-baht bail, he added.
The Madagascar tortoise -- or geochelone yniphora -- is on the World Conservation Union's red list of endangered species.
A wildlife charity said in a statement that the undercover raid of 10 shops was the largest here this year, warning that the trade at Chatuchak Market was just one part of an international operation.
"We hope to see police agencies in other countries follow this example and join up to catch cross border wildlife criminals," said Steven Galster of the Wildlife Alliance.
Thailand, with its highly developed infrastructure and location, has become a transportation centre for the illicit animal trade in Southeast Asia, animal rights groups say.
