Director-general Kulit Sombatsiri received Johnson and his delegation, who were on the final leg of a three-country tour of the region. The two sides discussed the suppression of illicit trade in wildlife, following up the actions agreed under the 2014 “London Declaration on the Illegal Wildlife Trade” and endorsed by many countries to act as deterrents, eradicate the market for illegal wildlife products, strengthen law enforcement, as well as ensure effective legal frameworks, Kulit said. In addition, close cooperation with various agencies both at the international and national levels is enhanced to exchange information on the illegal wildlife trade,” he added. Wildlife trafficking in Thailand is carried out by various syndicates, both in the Kingdom and abroad, using the country as a transit route to facilitate and allocate illicit CITES specimens to destination countries. Those syndicates often use a courier from an Asean country to smuggle the specimens to the destination countries.

Source: The Nation Bangkok February 13, 2018 00:50 UTC