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U.S. BAGS ALLEGED TRAFFICKER IN REPTILES

Import Sting Nets Malaysian's Arrest
Reprinted from The Washington Post
by Michael Grunwald, Washington Post Staff Writer

A federal undercover operation has snared one of the
world's most notorious traffickers in exotic reptiles, a Malaysian businessman who allegedly helped smuggle hundreds of live Komodo dragons, Timor pythons, Chinese alligators and other endangered species into the United States.

KENG LIANY``ANSON''WONG, 40, who was first indicted in the United States in 1992 for smuggling iguanas, lizards and turtles into Florida, was arrested in Mexico after a three­year U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service probe. Two Americans were also arrested and charged with helping WONG smuggle more than 300 animals worth nearly half a million dollars. Another alleged accomplice, a Hong Kong businessman, remains at large.

The United States is considered the largest market for endangered reptiles, and officials yesterday warned that collectors are fueling explosive growth in the world's six billion dollar illegal wildlife industry.The Komodo dragon, a huge lizard whose natural habitat is limited to a few Indonesian islands, sells for $30,000 on the black market, officials said. So do the plowshare tortoise, which is only found in a small section of northeast Madagascar, and the tuatara, a tiny lizard­like species from New Zealand that has been the only surviving member of its taxonomic order for the last 60 million years.WONG was allegedly trafficking in all three.

In a 55­count indictment unsealed in San Francisco, federal prosecutors accused WONG and his ring of threatening the world's biological diversity for profit, detailing a conspiracy to smuggle 39 endangered species out of Malaysia, China, Indonesia, New Zealand and the Philippines. Officials said WONG's mistake was using a San Francisco firm called PacRim Import/Export Co., as a middleman;the company was a front for undercover Fish and Wildlife agents. ``I can get anything here from anywhere,'' WONG allegedly told an agent in a fax on March 6, 1997. ``It only depends on how much certain people get paid. Tell me what you want. I will weigh the risks and tell you how much it'll set you back.''

American officials have been trying to crack down on wildlife trafficking, announcing several major cases over the last few years. Most of the busts have involved the smuggling of rare exotic birds, most notably the 1996 arrest and imprisonment of TONY SILVA, a Chicago­based writer of coffee­table books about the plight of rare exotic birds. But a growing number of the operations has involved reptiles and amphibians, most recently a sting in New York of a smuggling ring that specialized in sea turtle meat and eggs.

WONG has been wanted in the United States since 1992, when he was indicted---along with a Florida couple---for allegedly selling them endangered Fiji iguanas, Indian soft­shelled turtles and Bengal monitor lizards. He is notorious among wildlife conservationists as an avid collector and distributor of endangered animals, operating out of a zoo­like Penang compound stocked with hundreds of exotic cats, birds and reptiles. ``He's been one of the most flagrant smugglers out there,'' said LOIS J. SCHIFFER, the assistant attorney general for environmental and natural resources. ``We're sending a message today: We will do whatever it takes to shut down the black market in endangered species.''

The indictment alleges an aggressive scheme to smuggle reptiles by using human couriers, falsifying invoices for Federal Express shipments, and concealing endangered animals in shipments of legal ones. Beginning in November 1996, agents working on Operation Chameleon wired more than $50,000 to WONG's company, SUNGAI RUSA WILDLIFE; he shipped them endangered snakes, lizards and tortoises. The indictment portrays him as a wheeler-dealer, offering to ``Line up the right people at the airport'' in Malaysia, promising that he could``guarantee your bags will not be opened here.''

WONG was arrested after getting off a plane in Mexico City, where he had expected to meet with his contact at PacRim. American officials said they are working with Mexican authorities, and have begun the extradition process. The other suspects arrested were BEAU LEE LEWIS, owner of the Southwest Reptile exchange in Buckeye, AZ, and JAMES BURROUGH, a San Francisco resident. According to the indictment, LEWIS helped negotiate WONG's deals and recruited Fed Ex employees to facilitate his illegal shipments, while BURROUGHS allegedly worked as a courier for WONG, bringing Chinese alligators, elongated tortoises and baby Komodo dragons into the country in his carry­on luggage. YUK WAH ``OSCAR' SCHIU, owner of the Scales and Tails Trading Company in Hong Kong, was also charged in the indictment, but has not been arrested yet.

Some of the endangered reptiles died during their trip to the United States; others are being held as evidence. Officials said that most of the animals will be unable to return to the wild, and will probably end up in zoos after the legal proceedings. Still, they hailed the sting as a major victory in the worldwide battle. ``Reptile smuggling is a high­profit criminal enterprise,'' said Fish and Wildlife Director JAMIE RAPPAPORT CLARK.``The United States has a responsibility to do everything we can to stop it. Otherwise, the age of humans may prove deadly for many of these endangered species.''

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