The bones, skin, and claws of tigers are openly being sold in Burma. From the AFP (via Google News): Skins, claws and bones from at least 1,158 tigers and other protected big cats have been spotted in open markets in Myanmar during surveys conducted over the last 18 years, according to a World Wildlife Fund (WWF) report. More [...]

South Africa will sell elephant ivory to China and Japan despite international concern. From the AP (via Google News): It said that more than 20,000 elephants a year are killed illegally in Africa and Asia for the ivory black market, with Chinese nationals implicated in illegal ivory seizures in more than 20 African nations. Five years ago, the [...]

A new report has found that the Brazilian government is among the worst illegal loggers in the Amazon. From the CS Monitor: Brazil’s environment minister announced yet another series of measures to halt deforestation of the Amazon this week, but their impact was weakened not only by the fact that destruction had increased sharply once [...]

An Asian Elephant has completed rehab after becoming addicted to heroin giving by wildlife traders.  From the BBC: The four-year-old animal, called Xiguang, received methadone injections for a year at five times the human dosage, state media said. It was illegally captured by traders in 2005 in south-west China. When police arrested the traders and freed the elephant, it [...]

Canada’s diamond industry is at risk of having “blood diamonds” laundered into their diamond industry by organized crime and terrorist organizations, according to the Canadian government.  Form canada.com: The diamond industry in Canada’s Far North is vulnerable to smugglers looking to import “blood diamonds” or launder the proceeds of organized crime syndicates and terrorist organizations, newly released [...]

Last month, Venezuela agreed to send millions of barrels of oil to Colombia to curb the illegal smuggling of gas across the border.  From the AP (via IHT): Venezuela’s Oil Ministry plans to send Colombia’s Norte de Santander state at least 50,000 barrels (8 million liters) of oil a month starting Thursday and could double that supply, [...]

The Governor of Zimbabwe’s Reserve Bank told a conference that 10,000 people were entering Zimbabwe each month to traffic in illegal diamonds.  From The Herald (via AllAfrica.com): Over 10 000 people from all over the world are visiting the eastern border town of Mutare every month for illegal activities involving diamonds, Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe governor Gideon [...]

The FBI searched the Washington office of Global Fishing, a company founded by an alleged illegal fisherman from Russia.  From the Seattle Times: FBI and federal fisheries agents on Wednesday searched the Bellevue office of Global Fishing, whose founder Arkadi Gontmakher is currently detained in Moscow and charged by the Russian government with trafficking in black-market king [...]

Organized Crime groups in Canada are creating a new market in the trafficking of electronic trash such as used computers and cell phones.  From the Globe and Mail: The growing amount of laptops, portable phones and other electronics being tossed away in Canada is creating new trafficking opportunities for organized crime, the country’s law-enforcement officials are predicting. The [...]

The BBC has an report on oil smuggling in the Nigerian Delta. From the BBC: Under cover of night dozens of barges queue up to dock at a jetty in a creek somewhere in Nigeria’s oil-rich Niger Delta. Their holds are filled with stolen oil running from valves illegally installed into a pipeline. Full, they chug downstream to meet [...]