a looming election join me steve clemons in conversation with leading voices on the bottom line your weekly take on u.s. politics and society on al-jazeera. hello and welcome again to rewind on the product since the launch of knowledge back in 2006 we're built up a library of award winning films and here on rewind we're very visiting some of the best of them today we're reminded to 2013 when we went on the cover on a wildlife smuggling trail stretching from madagascar off the southeast coast of africa across asia to malaysia on the trail of a man known as the pablo escobar of reptile smuggling. well global wildlife trafficking is estimated to be worth billions of dollars every year almost as lucrative as the trade and illegal drugs and arms a key destination for wildlife traffickers as madagascar over 90 percent of the country's animals all found anywhere else making them a prize catch for smugglers including anson wong the man named the lizard king would jailed after a sting operation in 1908 he was soon back in business before being arrested again in malaysia and 2010 at an al-jazeera and best occasion in 2013 travail that those arrests and subsequent convictions did not put an end to his smuggling korea from the 11 east series his return of the lizard king. in all his years of drug there is one place the lizard king has always returned to . valley bay lies in a remote corner of madagascar off the southeast coast of africa. it's home to the ploughshare the world's rarest tortoise that distinction makes him target number one france it was. we've come with members of drought a conservation group spearheading the fight to save the species. to fight off. so long. robert brew and his team used radio receivers to track the ones they've managed to tag it's estimated there are only $400.00 adults left in the wild. the ploughshare are made especially vulnerable because they're only found in this small area of sand bamboo and scrubland. right here the 1st we come upon it's a tiny one turns out to be just a few months old. and. some of those who worked with ants and long in the past tell us that because a rare species he collects goodies but a plow share tortoise is perhaps the most valuable of all goodies when this guy or girl grows up to be an adult he or she could be worth tens of thousands of u.s. dollars. and if it was back. to real says there is including wong started coming to these shores in the 1980 s. just as the group was publishing reports over how endangered the species had become . endangered means high profits for poachers and the rule believes one has made millions selling plowshares off to be illegal pet trade. their beautiful shells make it easy to see why they are considered the jewel in the crown of the reptile world. so when you hear about people like ants and long. making lots of money from these passionate tortoises. what does that do in your mind and to your heart and it's it's not that they are but i want to take a gun and kill him if you feel that strongly about a. nearby breeding and rescue center we find pens full of power shares that were saved from poachers. the rate of smuggling is so high this year madagascar's government for bid the group from releasing any back into the wild. in the lab there is a photo warning workers to be on the lookout for this man it's anson was. that photograph is there in terms of you know if this man turns up. be careful. in 199672 plow shares restored him from this center in the most brazen reptile robbery in history. while no one was ever caught one was later found trying to sell a number of them. he's almost public enemy number one for us in terms of his reputation even if half the stories are true then that this scale of operation this man's been operating around the world and this and in madagascar is you know as mine born. it was a shipment of plow shares to the u.s. among some other exotic animals that led to the lizard king's 1st arrest in 1908. it followed a 5 year undercover sting where wildlife officers posed as dealers to lure one a malaysian citizen to america. in court officers testified one promised them he could get anything from anywhere. in the end he pled guilty to 40 counts of illegally importing endangered species and was sentenced to almost 6 years in prison. is all i'm going to market our armed guard or a reckless you know walker. who doesn't foster who. this man who we'll call x worked with wong for years and describes what drives him. more. sense if you're going. to come for your. money. besides the ploughshare madagascar is also home to many other unique species. 90 percent of the country's animals are found nowhere else in the world an irresistible draw says that for the lizard king. and so is in madagascar as capital we begin gaining access to his network and tracking down a man who since being harmed has learned to be far more loose in. the rough to meet someone who's promised to take us to some smugglers and his job is to pack the tortoise's before shipment we told him that we're interested buyers he believes that he's taking some customers to meet his bosses to. give them a. reason not appearing nervous the man guides us through the crowded streets to a factory. i know next year. but it mario introduces himself as a businessman. using hitting cameras we film is operational which he says exploits seafood and reptiles. and we also learn he's the son of a presidential candidate. i'm going to. my home in his office mario is the 1st to mention the man we're after. ok ok i don't know you i know you know him nothing. mario offers to put us in touch with one of his associates. the next evening we meet that associate in a hotel room where he presents us with samples. per. their radiated tortoises the 2nd most endangered in madagascar according to international law exploiting them from the country is illegal. to steal the deal of promises not only a steady supply but hundreds for shipment. the preacher. he also says his contacts at the airport will ensure they get through security checks. are. prepared to. hear. it confirm something extort us earlier. one of our customs in all these countries orders customs. they're paid off. we're going to get something. you can go to but they're supposed to be in for telling us. your forces or you're also corrupt. both x. and the dealer explained the typical route for smuggling same carriers or mules checking the tortoise's in suitcases in madagascar. from there he says the bags transit through a number of other cities by darussalam and dubai before entering asia. shipments we're told end up in his home country of malaysia where they are then sold on to buyers around the world. of india. cirrus a honda resort says she was once an unwitting participant in one's criminal dealings a student from madagascar desperate for money she says she agreed to meet him at this hotel. back in 2010 sara says she and another woman were taken to a room and offered $400.00 each to carry shipments for wong to malaysia. the cases she says were packed without her involvement. subtle too cool i only knew it was animals i didn't ask the details as to which kind of any laws were inside. while their 1st trip in 2010 proved uneventful sarah says it was her 2nd trip to malaysia a few weeks later that things went wrong. soon after touching down customs officials singled her out. so soft and before we could take away the luggage it was picked by suspection and they saw it was not simple luggage but was full of enables . among the cash authorities found 300 radiated tortoises and a number of ploughshare. sarah was convicted of smuggling and was jailed for 8 months. the same year the sarah was arrested the lizard king himself ran afoul of the law. in a separate incident one was caught with dozens of snakes on a plane for which he had no license for. a raid of his properties uncovered even more. a malaysian judge gave him a 5 year sentence but he served just 17 months. according to sources one of the loser kings biggest customers lives in indonesia bustling capital. we arrive just of the city is hosting a reptile exhibit. despite this being a government sanctioned event it doesn't take long for us to find illegal animals for sale. yet you. including tortoises from madagascar. are. still undercover as a dealer we head for one of the biggest groups. but we sit down for a meeting you know with dan. and you would judge or you know as and how do you know it's a. long. long time a long time with you not only does daniel readily admit that to work together but we notice he's also wearing a shirt from madagascar and so doesn't go on her so still to still doing our there there then something that surprises even us daniel admits the 2010 shipment of snakes which landed anson in prison was destined for his shock even her hero. hero yeah he's my. my friend. if you think i've made you take go. pick your biggest or man you mean just like they were your snakes there are i read about that on liar. daniel also claims that after his last conviction wang's wife is increasingly taking over the operations he way we were always right by salzer tiles ok all right it works out it's time to get a little closer. our 1st stop is once rural property in penang is back hills. we need to see whether he's returned to his life of crime as some say or leading a reform life. 2010 when law enforcement officers busted into this place he found 2 things tiger's salsa crocodile in question now it's his that sort of thing still going on for. an hour later after hiking through the hills you stumble on a number of cages. and then we spot an enclosure. there's a tortoise inside. evidence that one is at least keeping animals. further on we find a roll of newer enclosures it's hard to make. what they are so we creep closer. the animals have distinctive ears we show our photos later to experts who tell us these are servile cats from north africa. following his 2010 conviction malaysia's government banned wang and his wife. from holding business and wildlife trading permits. yet someone in government did knowingly sign off on new licenses are search for public records found that both anson and his wife at had several business permits renewed from the bookit jumble reptile sanctuary. to errol flynn. to c.b.s. wildlife. posing as customers we visit the penang address listed for the company. where we finance his wife being she almost immediately she confirms she and her husband are still trading in one of the european rather. back. are documents search also and covers another company rono wild life it was formed after wong's 2010 convictions listed owner is a name we don't recognize. but trading permits show it exports the same animals as anson did to the same us customers he had before his arrest. i think the door might be open so. wrong his address is listed on the upper floor of a commercial strip in penang and of somebody there for sure. from the street we can make out aquariums and cages leading us to believe animals are being kept there. and there. we find a worker or i have got horror now. what if that was more than happy to show off alone as current stars. there are many albino. high thoughts some 30 feet long all of them require permits. and then we confirm the real person behind. your boss is mr. mr. hanson well. as. we show our findings to and surrendering a lawyer and opposition member of parliament in malaysia the fact that it's being done in open again indicates corruption for years surrendering has publicly raised the need to investigate the country's wildlife department. accusing them of aiding and abetting one so he seems to be able to operate above the law and beyond the law in malaysia how is that possible it is impossible without the complicity of all the authorities throughout our year long investigation which involved lengthy stakeouts in several countries we never caught sight of the lizard king this despite frequent reports from sources that he was in the area. finally we tracked him down in the name mr wong steve child from the program went to any star you would love to ask you a question if we can know are you still involved in the trade. to talk to you sir can you tell us what role no wildlife use. and why it's why are there albino i thought arns had run a wildlife and according to the government you're not supposed to be trading in wildlife the loss of the woman. are you admitting ask the government are you saying you're doing nothing wrong. and i have no comment. also because jumble passbook jumble is that your company. company. several companies to me including rona wildlife do you know comment. sir are you still involved in the trade directing an endangered species. that. you understood one of his workers along with his wife and tries to stop us from filming there so you've served time in jail sir wall grows increasingly aggressive i love it while we're on public property sir so we're out there because i'm here on public property don't push us are there on public property. or we're on the property. just as quickly though about a song sir and can you tell us what this box is for. sir these are serious questions we understand that you have served time for a number of these crimes and the question is are you still involved in the trade of endangered species it's the most we'll get from here sir but not once did long denied he was back in the reptile trade. some questions left unanswered is whether his dealings would be possible without the help of authorities and why despite. obvious involvement his wife has never been brought up on charges so you are the official owner of the no run a wild life. you know. why is that man. what is clear is that lizard king and his associates continue to operate just as they have for decades. trading and selling off the world's most endangered creatures at will. but that was return of the lizard king from one of one east back in 2013 little is known today of ants and was whereabouts but he seems to have lost his standing as the kingpin of wildlife trafficking joining us now from kuala lumpur is steve childs followed was a year and steve you went undercover over the course of the year following wall why was it so important for you to make this film and take the risks that you took well elizabeth we were hearing from a lot of environmental groups around the world about how serious the wildlife trafficking situation was becoming many people were linking the wildlife trafficking trade to other major crimes like the trafficking of arms and the trafficking of drugs and saying that it was on the same level and that organized crime syndicates were getting involved that was sort of the impetus for us to start looking at this and then when we're trying to sort of target or pinpoint people who are involved in the trade and since we're and someone's name kept coming up so we decided to try to infiltrate his network and find out what was going on whether he is still involved in wildlife trafficking we simply do not know what we do know is that after we ran our film malaysian authorities did charge the director of a company that hanssen long was affiliated or linked to as well as they did also charge his former wife for possession of endangered animals after several years of delays in the courts that malaysian director of the. company pled guilty to possession and willingly agreed to pay a fine of $10000.00 u.s. dollars plus of the prosecution however dropped the charges against anson wong's former wife so the film did have some impact but of course not the kind of impact that's needed and where do things stand in malaysia now stephen where does that figure and global wildlife trafficking malaysia still remains a key transit hub for evil legal wildlife being trafficked the way it works we understand is that poachers there are poaching wildlife from africa or other parts of asia are shipping it through malaysia as well as other countries in southeast asia on to destination points in terms of places where buyers are are acquiring this so malaysia still remains a problem country there has been a lot of work done by the un and others to train customs officers here and to create more of a diligence if you will to keep tabs on customs officers so that they aren't on the take however that is a challenge we understand throughout much of the world especially in southeast asia so what we're seeing is that a lot of the cultures there there trafficking their goods through these places and once authorities seize some of the shipments then that is switched to another countries some of the key countries are seeing you know the continually popping up are malaysia thailand laos vietnam and these are just some of them that are key problem cities countries if you will and steve who is driving the market. well that's a very good question it is extremely varied depending on the wildlife and the type of wildlife we're talking about if we're talking about wildlife use for the descent all purposes such as pangolin scales or rhino horns that are rubbed down into medicine the key markets are vietnam and china predominately as well as other parts of asia if we're talking about the trafficking of pets you know pets illegally taken from places that then that becomes much more global so we're talking about you know interest out of collectors in the middle east collectors in europe the u.s. and also in parts of asia as well in terms of how much this illicit trade is worth annually we are dealing with a tsunami the numbers are staggering we're talking about upwards of $200.00 species of flora and fauna that are going extinct every 24 hours that's about $1000.00 times the natural progression if you will of any extension that we've seen on the planet and a lot of that is attributed to wildlife trafficking we know what more can be done about it you know the key people say is corruption corruption corruption is the main problem if you know customs officials if the government officials in various countries you know stop you know taking in the bribes if they actually you know stop the shipments then perhaps we can put an end to this but at this moment it's not happening richard lewis you know we spent some time with him in madagascar for this film and when we were out in the jungles with him you know we looked at the ploughshare tortoise one of these very wanted you know animals and at the time of filming there were about 400 ploughshare tortoises left in the wild only 400 but as of now we understand that number is down to 50 and that species is on the brink of extinction and that's the heartbreaking part thank you very much steve and that's it from us but do join us again next week and check out the rewind page at al-jazeera dot com for more films from the scene for now thanks for joining us and see you again 7. rewind continues i can bring your people back to life i'm sorry with updates on the best of all diseases documentaries to struggle continually book from till now or used to students revisiting the suv of friends we're going back to a poor south african neighborhood where music and tradition come together in an annual competition but he knew people would know you really want. the latest news as it breaks this crowd of hundreds of people didn't come with invitations they came to pay their respects to george floyd with details coverage the government needs to balance the needs of the economy with a trace of the virus returning. from around the world organized crime is now beginning to try to play the role of robbing a black guy giving away food to win over the loyalty of people in desperate. infamous dictator may be long gone but inequality fueled by his neo liberal economic reforms still plagues the nation. and dissent is still quashed by a heavy handed state apparatus. the people in power examines where the forging a new constitution can turn the page in the most unequal of the world's 30 wealthiest nations. in a chaise legacy on a. sum imprisoned dissidents to inspirational leader. from founding the independent state to fiercely defending his people from ethnic cleansing in the conclusion of a 2 part documentary soonest i just see a world expose the rise to power of the 1st movie of an independent bosnia herzegovina. is a bigger bridge. from prisoner to president on a. hong kong marks 23 years since his return to chinese rule just hours after beijing imposes a new security law that crushes political freedoms. down in jordan this is al jazeera live from doha coming up the u.s. records its highest number of new coronavirus cases.

Related Keywords

Madagascar , Kuala Lumpur , Malaysia , Doha , Ad Daw Ah , Qatar , Afghanistan , Dubai , Dubayy , United Arab Emirates , United States , Vietnam , Republic Of , China , South Africa , Indonesia , Russia , Penang , Pulau Pinang , Ethiopia , Jordan , India , Thailand , France , America , Chinese , South African , Malaysian , Ethiopian , Steve Childs , Wong Steve , Anson Wong , Steve Clemons , George Floyd , Errol Flynn , Richard Lewis , Pablo Escobar ,