PETALING JAYA: Teo Boon Ching from Malaysia has been sentenced to serve an 18-month jail term in the United States for conspiring to traffic hundreds of kilogrammes of rhinoceros horns worth millions, which involves the illegal poaching of various species of the animal.
The US Attorney’s Office issued a statement yesterday (Sept 19) stating that the sentence was imposed by the US District Judge Paul A.Crotty.
The accused was described as going by the names of Zhang, Dato Sri, and Godfather. He is the sixth large-scale wildlife trafficker sentenced in cases brought to the department, the New Straits Times (NST) reported.
Teo who was extradited from Thailand and according to the statement by the Attorney’s Office said documents and statements filed in the case and in the court proceedings had described him as a member of a transnational criminal conspiracy engaged in the large-scale international trafficking and smuggling of rhinoceros horns to be sold to foreign buyers, including buyers in Manhattan and New York.
Teo was also said to have transported, distributed, sold and smuggled at least 219 kilograms of rhinoceros horns resulting from the poaching of various rhinoceros, with an estimated value of at least US$2.1 million.
“On a number of occasions, Teo met with a confidential source to negotiate the sale of rhinoceros horns.
“For example, on July 17 and 18, 2019, the confidential source met with Teo in Malaysia. During those meetings, Teo stated that he served as a ‘middleman’ – one who acquires rhinoceros horns poached by co-conspirators in Africa and ships them to customers around the world for a per-kg fee.”
It was further stated that Teo had promised the confidential source that he would be able to hand over the goods “as long as you have cash” and had also sent the source photographs of rhino horns that were for sale and shipment.
Hence, with a direction of law enforcement, the source in August 2019 had purchased 12 rhino horns from the Malaysian, which was delivered in a suitcase in Thailand by those working for the wildlife trafficking organisation.
Teo and his associated entities were previously sanctioned by the US Treasury Department Office of Foreign Assets Control.
“Wildlife trafficking is a serious threat to the natural resources and the ecological heritage shared by communities across the globe, enriching poachers responsible for the senseless illegal slaughter of numerous endangered rhinoceros and furthering the market for these illicit products.
“The substantial sentence shows the resolve of this office to use every tool at our disposal to ensure the protection of endangered species,“ US attorney Damian Williams was quoted as saying.
The accused was apprehended in Thailand on June 29, 2022, and was extradited to the US under the the bilateral extradition treaty involving both nations on Oct 7, 2022.
