HOW SMUGGLERS MADE TENS OF MILLIONS MOVING RARE BIRDS AROUND THE WORLD

On 1 August, a report from OCCRP says that, for years, an organised crime group spent years smuggling rare exotic birds from South America and Asia to collectors across Europe, but that now, one of their former couriers is speaking out.  It has been estimated that the smugglers could have made around €30 million a year.  The ex-smuggler told OCCRP that he made an average of €50,000 on each trip to deliver birds, and sometimes as much as €140,000.  The smugglers frequently used fake CITES permits, or reused permits many times over, to move birds into the EU.  Metal rings around birds’ legs are supposed to prove that they were bred in captivity, but the smugglers also found a way to fake those.

https://www.occrp.org/en/investigations/astronomical-money-how-smugglers-made-tens-of-millions-moving-rare-birds-around-the-world

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