Stunning! Is illicit trafficking "legal"? National first-class protected animals were resold layer by layer, and the price increased by 40 times! Behind the black industry chain...
Recently, the Intermediate People's Court of Ya'an City, Sichuan Province opened a trial to hear a case of terribly endangering precious and endangered wild animals.
During the two-year investigation, the police seized a total of 18 "national treasure" wild animals of Sichuan golden snub-nosed monkeys, and 17 red pandas, a second-class national protected animal.
Unexpectedly, after being illegally poached, these precious and endangered wild animals have flowed to private zoos across the country.
Precious and endangered wild animals are sold to private zoos
Ya'an, Sichuan, is located in an important traffic road, and its unique geographical location also makes it an important transportation channel for wildlife crimes.
At the beginning of 2020, the Ya'an police received clues that Li Mouhua, a man from Mianyang, Sichuan, was likely to return to his old business and was selling a large number of wild animals.
Feng Zhiyuan, a police officer from the Tianquan County Police Brigade of the Giant Panda National Park in Sichuan, was sentenced to 13 years and 6 months by the Luding Court in 2006 for buying and selling macaques.
In July 2017, he was sentenced to two years in prison by the Gusu court in Jiangsu for accepting red pandas.
After being released from prison, Li Mouhua did not stop there, and secretly started the business of buying and selling wild animals.
The police investigation learned that Li Mouhua not only acquired red pandas, but also Sichuan golden monkeys.
In order to avoid suspicion from outsiders, Li Mouhua also found an orchard to hide the wild animals he bought.
Feng Zhiyuan, a police officer from the Tianquan County Police Brigade of Ya'an Giant Panda National Park, Sichuan: This site is relatively remote and hidden. There is an orchard on the site. cover up.
How did Li Mouhua resell these wild animals to earn high profits?
Feng Zhiyuan, a policeman from the Tianquan County Police Brigade in Ya'an Giant Panda National Park, Sichuan: He has a friend in Wuhu, Anhui, who used to run a snake farm. He introduced him and took him to the Tongling Zoo.
Illegal trafficking was "washed" into legal breeding, zoos reselling wild animals at high prices
A suspect who sells wild animals is going to meet the person in charge of a zoo. What is the relationship between them?
Are there any unseen and illegal exchanges of interests?
Following such clues, the police uncovered a shocking black industrial chain.
Jia Shizhong, head of the comprehensive brigade of the Forest Police Detachment of Ya'an Public Security Bureau, Sichuan: Taking the golden snub-nosed monkey in Sichuan as an example, the hunter sold it to a middleman at a price of about 13,000 yuan, that is, Li Mouhua, and Li Mouhua sold it at a price of about 75,000 yuan. After Tongling Zoo illegally acquired the Sichuan Golden Monkey from a middleman, it bleached its identity and applied to the forestry authority for sale by breeding and self-breeding. After the identity was bleached, it was sold to other zoos at a unit price of 500,000.
It turned out that the zoo in Tongling was also a middleman, but after their whitewashing, it was a rare and endangered wild animal that was illegally traded, but it was labelled as a legal one. A national first-class protected animal was resold by them layer by layer. , the price can be nearly 40 times.
During the investigation, the police also found that Li Mouhua seized the psychology of these private zoos wanting to make quick money, so he hit the crooked idea to many private zoos across the country.
Feng Zhiyuan, a policeman of Tianquan County Police Brigade, Ya'an Giant Panda National Park, Sichuan: Tongling City Zoo, Nanjing Jinniu Lake (Wild Animal Kingdom), Linyi Baoshanqian Zoo, (Yantai) Laizhou Majiazhuang Zoo, Longkou Wildlife Park, all of these zoos are is private.
Behind the high profits, there is a huge crime gang that harms precious and endangered wild animals, integrating hunting, purchasing, transporting, selling, and "whitewashing".
In order to avoid police detection, they all use code words when they communicate with each other.
Feng Zhiyuan, a police officer from the Tianquan County Police Brigade in Ya'an Giant Panda National Park, Sichuan: The chat records are very hidden. For example, the golden monkeys say they are running pheasants or long tails, and the red pandas say kittens.
Not only is he very cautious in communication, Li Mouhua also has his own set of methods for transporting wild animals.
Jia Shizhong, head of the Forest Police Detachment Comprehensive Brigade of Ya'an Public Security Bureau, Sichuan: The car in front tells the car behind whether there is a traffic police check in front of the car, and if there is any special situation, he will keep in touch with the car behind and tell the other party through the walkie-talkie.
The illegal trading chain involves a careful deployment of arrest plans by the police in multiple provinces
The suspects are so cunning, and the entire chain of illegal transactions involves multiple provinces. How did the police deploy carefully to catch them all?
In December 2020, the police found in a comprehensive study and judgment that Li Mouhua, his son Li Mouqiu, and the driver Liu Mou set out from Mianyang, Sichuan to the hunter Long Moujun in Luding, Ganzi to pull red pandas. Every time a certain Hua commits a crime, he uses two cars in the front and the rear. In order to prevent the vehicles in the front clearing the road from ventilating the vehicles transporting stolen goods in the rear, the police also fully considered when formulating the arrest plan.
However, unexpectedly, unexpected situations were encountered during the arrest process.
Yang Run, deputy director of the Tianquan County Public Security Bureau, Ya'an City, Sichuan: After the car passed the exit of the expressway toll station, we put him aside for a while during our routine inspection. After we found that the vehicle transporting stolen goods was delayed, we decided to go ahead. The gas station controlled the passers-by, Liu Mou was driving, and Li Mouhua was in the car, but Li Mouhua’s son Li Mouqiu was in the service area to transport the acquired stolen goods. After we found out in the service area He was controlled, and three red pandas were found in a cage in his trunk on the spot.
At the same time as the arrest of Li Mouhua's gang, another police force dispatched by the police also arrested the hunter Long Moujun in Ganzi Prefecture.
Through interrogation, Li Mouhua explained that there were five golden monkeys in his farm.
Yang Run, Deputy Director of the Public Security Bureau of Tianquan County, Ya'an City, Sichuan: This is the golden monkey that Li Mouhua kept there. There were originally five monkeys, and one was dead.
After the criminal suspect Li Mouhua was arrested, he confessed to his criminal facts and explained all the circumstances of the entire criminal chain.
The Sichuan police took advantage of the victory and, with the cooperation of the public security organs in five provinces and six cities across the country, investigated and dealt with a number of zoos suspected of purchasing and whitewashing wild animals, and successively arrested all 15 suspects of the criminal gang, and seized national key points 18 Sichuan golden monkeys and 17 red pandas under national secondary protection are protected.
Completely destroy this huge criminal gang that harms precious and endangered wild animals across many provinces and cities.