Durban - Netherlands wildlife investigators have threatened to expose the names of key players in a Vietnamese criminal network allegedly linked to the relentless slaughter of South Africa’s rhinos.
The Wildlife Justice Commission, a non-government group set up last year to help shut down transnational wildlife criminal groups, claims to have compiled undercover camera surveillance footage and “other extensive evidence” on 51 people linked to a wildlife trafficking hub in Nhi Khe, a traditional craft village about 20km south of Hanoi.
The Hague-based wildlife commission, headed by a former official of the International Criminal Court and legal assistant in the UN International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, is calling on Vietnam to take urgent action against a criminal network allegedly linked to the illegal global trade in rhino horns, elephant ivory, tigers and other endangered species.
The commission says it has handed over a detailed “map of facts” (evidence docket) to the Vietnamese government to enable it to investigate and prosecute the alleged offenders, who had been linked so far to the smuggling of horns from 573 rhinos worth an estimated US$42 million (R563 million).
Though the exact country of origin of the horns has not been established, more than 5 400 rhinos have been poached for their horns in South Africa in the past eight years, amid evidence of close links between local poachers and Vietnamese networks.
Commission head Olivia Swaak-Goldman said: “Our investigation into the criminal network centres around Nhi Khe has exposed the extent of the illegal wildlife trade in this well-known hub. Without a doubt, a significant percentage of the global illegal trade in rhino horn passes through this network and dismantling it will reduce the global supply of rhino horn.”
The commission said if the Vietnamese government failed to take the necessary action within a reasonable time frame, it would expose the names of the key players at a public trial in The Hague, streamed live on the Wildlife Justice Commission website.
A copy of the docket has also been sent to the Geneva headquarters of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Wildlife (Cites), which will hold a global wildlife trade meeting in Johannesburg next month.
Swaak-Goldman said she was reluctant to release further details at this stage that might jeopardise the criminal investigation.
A commission spokesman told The Mercury that its investigators had not been able to collect DNA samples from the smuggled rhino horns, but “given the quantity of rhino horn we found - and the criminal network operating in Vietnam, and the links with the Vietnamese criminal network operating across Southern Africa - there is an extremely high probability that a significant proportion originated in South Africa”.
On whether any local witnesses would be invited to testify, the commission said: “If we do proceed to a public hearing on this particular case, we will most likely feature expert witnesses from South Africa.
“Our main objective is for these criminal networks to be shut down. Within our transparent Accountability Panel process, we have clear guidelines on how long we will engage in national dialogue before exerting more public pressure on governments. In this case, we are still engaged with the (Vietnamese) national authorities. We will have an update by mid-September.”
Though the commission is neither an international criminal court nor a government body, it has an accountability panel that includes a Singapore Supreme Court judge and a Kenyan High Court judge.
Other panel members include Professor Oliver Ruppel, professor of law at Stellenbosch University, and Anton du Plessis, executive director of the Institute for Security Studies.
Members of the commission’s advisory panel include Hong Kong Police assistant commissioner Nelson Cheng and Hong Kong Legislative Council member Elizabeth Quat.
The commission, only formed last year, has yet to hold any public hearings at The Hague. However, apart from the Vietnam case, it has three other global investigations in progress - including a parallel probe into the trafficking of rhino horns and other wildlife species to China.
Its investigation team is said to include former police and law enforcement officers from Australia, the US, EU and Vietnam with experience in surveillance and undercover operations.
Cites officials said in a report last year that Vietnam remained the biggest end-user of illegal rhino horns, despite some recent arrests by Hanoi. Vietnam submitted a report to Cites last year detailing efforts to curb illegal horn trading, including changing the penal code of a country where domestic trade remains largely unregulated.
A separate report to Cites by the South African Department of Environmental Affairs noted that no Vietnamese nationals had been allowed to hunt rhino in this country since 2012 because of previous abuse of the rhino trophy hunting permit system.
The report suggested that Vietnamese officials apparently raised stumbling blocks to South Africa’s attempts to collect DNA samples from rhino horns seized in Vietnam.
* South Africa has not responded to queries sent on Wednesday on the Wildlife Justice Commission investigation.
The Mercury