"Golden Strike" cripples wildlife trafficking from Africa to Asia. The operation conducted from November to December 2021 by the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) resulted in arrests and seizures throughout Asia and Africa. These include the seizure of 1,202 pieces of ivory weighing over four tons.
The International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) is winning a new battle against wildlife crime and trafficking from Africa to Asia. The provisional balance sheet of seizures is disturbing. There are 1,202 pieces of ivory weighing more than four tons, 423 kg and 78 scales of pangolins, 50 rhinoceros horns weighing 72 kg, 46 kg of bladders of totoaba (a large silver fish highly prized in Chinese medicine for its swim bladder), more than 3,785 pieces and 52 kg of mollusks, 42 shark teeth, 33 red corals, more than 120 birds, and 1,336 other species protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (Cites).
These seizures were made as part of an operation called “Golden Strike”, conducted in November and December 2021 by Interpol, in partnership with 23 countries, 13 of which are located, in Africa (Botswana, Cameroon, Central African Republic, DR Congo, Gabon, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Nigeria, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zimbabwe). The Chinese-funded operation targeted only trafficking from Africa to Asia of CITES-protected wildlife. “Strong, coordinated responses such as Operation Golden Strike are needed to combat the activities of transnational organized crime groups involved in wildlife crime and to disrupt illegal trade chains in range, transit and destination states,” said Ilana de Wild, Interpol’s director of organized and emerging crime.
Arrests and prosecutions
As part of the same operation, international police cooperation between South Africa and Malaysia saw the arrest and prosecution of two suspects smuggling 45 kg of rhino horn between the two continents. And according to Interpol, more arrests and prosecutions are expected as ongoing transnational investigations progress around the world.
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Because wildlife crime is not confined to a national territory, Interpol embraces the need to take an international approach. In 2015, one of its operations dubbed “Worthy II,” targeting ivory trafficking in Africa, resulted in 376 arrests and the seizure of 4.5 tons of ivory and rhino horns.
The fourth largest illegal trade in the world according to Interpol, the illegal wildlife trade is estimated to be worth $20 billion a year, by the study “The Rise of Environmental Crime,” co-published in 2016 by Interpol and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP).
Boris Ngounou
