Abuja, Nigeria (Commonwealth Union)_There is big money in pangolin trafficking, the most trafficked mammal on earth and catching the traffickers is almost an impossible task. However, after a four-year sting operation and investigation which caught a massive trafficking gang in the net, a trial convicted leaders of a global wildlife trafficking gang in Nigeria. But while for decades law enforcement had unsuccessfully tried to bring down large pangolin trafficking rings, it was a group of fake buyers and sting operations conducted by a small European charity that outwitted the traffickers and hammered the final nail into their coffin. The gang was responsible for half the illegal trade in endangered African pangolin scales.
Central to the sting operation was a young Vietnamese woman pretending to be a buyer for a Chinese crime boss. It was a dangerous mission and she knew it, sitting across from the table of one of the country’s main wildlife traffickers. The woman works for the Wildlife Justice Commission, which is a charity established to disrupt criminal networks involved in wildlife trafficking.
Pangolins are eaten in Africa and the scales are used in traditional medicine in Asia. Almost half a million pangolins were killed in the decade from 2010 to supply trafficking networks. All eight species of pangolin – four Asian and four African – are threatened with three considered critically endangered.
One trigger on when a trade has concluded is when wives of traffickers suddenly flaunt wealth. While this turned the spotlight on some of the more mid-range lower end traffickers, the main big-guns were never seen on social media. They stayed undercover. But COVID cut down the trade considerably and with an overstock and no buyers, social media became the medium for sales and hence opened the door to the network that had remained hidden for long.
Undercover operators were used to talk to the traffickers. Women were more accepted and far less threatening. It was Morybinet Berete that the woman was seated in front of. Berete is one of the most wanted in the trafficking trade. He was originally from Guinea in West Africa but was staying in the hub of the pangolin scale trade in Nigeria. He was called Genie by the investigating team, a pattern the team followed, naming each of their surveillance persons with a code name.
While the pandemic period was challenging to move forward with the investigation, what did come through was that those like Berete, who were initially businessmen had turned to the trade and didn’t have the intuition or skillset to be hardnosed illicit trader. So they came out strong on social media.
A video with the goods sent from the woman’s phone to Berete proved to be what the investigators wanted, because that was when they located his address and pounced. The Nigeria Customs Service swooped into Berete’s home and seized 7,000 kgs of pangolin scales as well as claws and elephant tusks and the three men within. But not Berete. The men’s phones opened yet another goldmine. The identities of the Asian buyers.
With the hope of netting the lot, another undercover investigator got the gang to incriminate themselves. In a WhatsApp video call, they said they wanted nothing but pangolin scales – 20 tonnes of it shipped to Vietnam. The buyers, code named Big Mac, Benz and Fries, were eventually rounded up – Big Mac in his hotel room with two phones and a treasure trove of evidence, which also led to Benz and Fries being arrested. Berete’s brother Mory also pleaded guilty.
However, Berete the Genie remains free. Investigators believe that if he’s on the loose, they’ll be able to do the next round of their big-time arrests and promise it won’t be long.
