Primorye Border Police Launched Search for Tiger Poachers

VLADIVOSTOK. April 16. VOSTOK-MEDIA – Primorsky Krai border police have foiled an attempt to smuggle three tiger skins to China. WWF Russia employees took part in expert examination following the accident, officials said.

A spokesman for Amur branch of WWF Russia told Vostok-Media that in the early morning of April 13 an alarm went off at a specially protected area in Kamen-Rybolov, a village in Primorsky Krai, indicating some people had intruded the area. The bad weather played into the hands of border police, officials said. Without delay they launched a search leaving the trespassers no chance of escape. And later, two Chinese citizens were arrested.

One of them was seized 1.5 kilometers from the specially protected area. Police said he ignored repeated commands to stop and they had to fire warning shots into the air. The trespasser carried two bags with skins and bones of two grown-up tigers and a cub. The other Chinese national was seized 800 meters from the Sino-Russian border line.

“This is yet another outrageous attempt to smuggle Russian bioresources to China,” said WWFs biodiversity coordinator Pavel Fomenko. “The previous seizure of a large lot of smuggled goods, in the examination of which we took part, yielded some results. Then, smugglers were sentences to a total of 49 years in prison. This time, the border police also shed promptness and effectiveness. I hope that the criminals will face as harsh punishment as they deserve.”

The Chinese citizens were lodged at a temporary detention facility in Kamen-Rybolov. The police are considering opening criminal case against the Chinese nationals on charges of illegal hunting, smuggling and an attempted crossing of the Sino-Russian border.

At present, police is searching for alleged accomplices in the smuggling attempt. A meeting was held with Chinese border guard officials, at which the Russian border police requested to take all necessary steps to detect people who might have assisted in the commission of the offence.

“I’m glad the smugglers have been seized but those who killed the tigers are still at large,” said Sergei Aramilev, a WWF’s biodiversity program coordinator. “However, the crime that they committed is is as grave, and severely punishable under the Russian laws. I hope law enforcement officers will identify those wild beasts in human guise. Despite the coordinated and sustained effort to fight poaching and smuggling, the border police and customs officers are failing to stem such illegal activities. WWF is pushing to make amendments to Article 188 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation equating smuggling of derivatives of the animals listed in Russia’s Red Book of endangered species to smuggling of firearms and drugs.”