Stolen Apes

of organized crime. Trans-boundary criminal intelligence units and specialized anti-poaching units operating with law enforce- ment agencies both inside and outside parks, as well as well- established intelligence networks in communities and towns, are all critical to the successful unraveling of criminal networks. Once traffickers are identified, surveillance and backtrack- ing must be carried out. Many primary wildlife traffickers are known to local NGOs, and these conservation organizations should form a critical component of the networks assisting criminal intelligence units. With local intelligence networks helping to produce reports on trafficking activities, the neces- sary information can be collected in order to initiate police investigations, involve INTERPOL, and establish formal co- operation among the countries involved. Here again, the IC- CWC can play a key role by supporting the entire enforcement chain: intelligence units, police and customs officials, and the judiciary, and to identify and close down foreign markets that drive the demand. Prosecution The existing weaknesses in the prosecution process in Africa and Southeast Asia compound the lack of law enforcement and trafficking investigations in those regions, making it difficult to put an end in the illegal trade of great apes. Transporting these animals, although a clear violation of national laws and CITES, and in spite of the fact that such transport usually in- volves criminal networks operating across national borders, is generally not considered to be an “organized crime” in many countries unless it involves the violation of laws that carry a sentence of at least four years. This is important. If the trans- boundary trafficking of great apes and other contraband carries deterrent sentences four years or more, it will be considered organized crime. This will lead to far more stringent investiga- tions and subsequently the prosecution and conviction of the individuals involved. The ICCWC has worked to develop a tool kit that will assist both police officers and investigators in identifying which laws have been violated, as well as how and where evidence can be located to ensure that proper investigation is carried out and that those involved in trafficking are prosecuted. Without suit- able legal deterrents, the trafficking of great apes will continue and their numbers will continue to drop.

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