撰写Economic Daily-China Economic Net, Beijing, March 24-Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic, the General Administration of Customs has resolutely implemented the spirit of the important instructions of the Supreme Leader General Secretary, persevered and consistently, persisted in high-pressure strike hard and coordinated operations, cracked down on illegal crimes of smuggling wild animals and their products strictly, severely and quickly, fully participated in the fight against the epidemic, and earnestly safeguarded the ecological security of the country and the health of the people.
A few days ago, the General Administration of Customs directed the anti-smuggling departments in many places to crack down on major cases in the "Guard 2020" special campaign to crack down on the smuggling of wild animals and their products, and the good news spread frequently, and many kinds of wild animals and their products were seized one after another, such as rhinoceros horn, dried hippocampus, green iguana, plain monitor lizard and high-crowned chameleon.
On March 15th, Guangzhou Customs Anti-smuggling Bureau, together with Guangzhou Public Security Bureau, successfully intercepted two cars with Guangxi license plates in a section of Guangzhou Ring Expressway, and seized 16 rhinoceros horns weighing about 36.6kg from two backpacks in the trunk of the vehicle, and arrested four suspects.
After preliminary investigation, in order to gain profits, the criminal gang first transported rhinoceros horn from Africa to overseas, smuggled it into China through the border between China and Vietnam, and transported it to Fujian and other places by land for profit.
On March 18th, Taiyuan Customs Anti-smuggling Bureau, together with Shanxi Provincial Forest Public Security Bureau and Shanxi Provincial Public Security Bureau Food and Drug Crime Investigation Corps, organized a joint operation to crack down on the smuggling of wild animals and their products, arrested 5 suspects in one fell swoop and seized 60 suspected wild animals on the spot. After preliminary identification, six wild animals involved in the case were listed in Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), including green iguana, plain monitor lizard, high-crowned chameleon, Chinese-American spiny-tailed iguana and mauremys mutica.
At present, it is preliminarily found out that in order to gain illegal benefits, the criminal suspect made friends with pet players or sellers on the Internet, smuggled into the country through the mail channel, knowing that the sale and import of endangered animals such as green iguanas and plains monitor lizards were prohibited, and then sold them through online platforms or pet markets for profit.
On March 23, under the unified deployment of the General Administration of Customs, the Anti-smuggling Bureau of Guangdong Branch coordinated the Anti-smuggling Bureaus of Xiamen, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Gongbei Customs, dispatched more than 150 police officers to simultaneously carry out centralized net-collecting operations in Fujian and Guangdong provinces, cracked a case of smuggling endangered wild seahorses, destroyed four smuggling gangs, arrested all 26 major suspects, and seized 716 kilograms of seahorses listed in Appendix II of CITES Convention on the spot.
At present, it is initially found out that the smuggling gang headed by the criminal suspect Lin and others, after purchasing a large number of Haimagan overseas, smuggled into China from many ports in Fujian and Guangdong provinces by using the crew of cargo ships and professional "water passengers" and transported them to some Chinese herbal medicine markets for profit. It has been found that 2.94 tons of dried seahorses have been smuggled.
Rhinoceros is the general name of Mammalia and Rhinotidae, mainly distributed in Asia and Africa, with 4 genera and 5 species, of which 3 species are listed as "extremely endangered", 1 species as "vulnerable" and 1 species as "near endangered" by the Red List of Endangered Species of IUCN. At present, this species is listed in Appendix I of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), and commercial trade is strictly prohibited internationally.
Green iguana is an arboreal lizard native to Central and South America and its surrounding islands. The infection rate of Ixodes on its body surface is 88.9%, and the infection rate of parasites in its body is 100%. It can spread many diseases. Once it is kept as a pet, infected animals can cause human diseases directly or indirectly. Due to the rise of "unusual pets" in recent years, some lawless elements have seen "business opportunities", which has led to repeated illegal and criminal acts of smuggling and selling precious wild animals.
The Customs reminds that the act of illegally carrying, transporting and mailing precious animals and precious animal products into or out of the country (border) in violation of customs laws and regulations, violates the crime of smuggling precious animals and precious animal products stipulated in the Criminal Law of People’s Republic of China (PRC), and will be investigated for criminal responsibility according to the seriousness of the case.
In addition, the customs also reminded the public that they should consciously resist smuggling, selling and buying, and jointly safeguard ecological civilization and people’s health.