INTERPOL and CITES launch new support manual for wildlife crimes investigators

This guide will help bring more wildlife criminals to justice, said CITES Secretary-general Willem Wijnstekers, launching the manual.

More than 150 wildlife and environmental crime specialists and law enforcement officials are attending the conference.

The manual, jointly produced by INTERPOL and CITES, provides guidelines on monitoring shipments of contraband and identifying the criminals involved.

The manual, jointly produced by the two organizations, provides guidelines on how to carry out Controlled Delivery of illegal items in order to identify individuals connected with criminal activity and to gather evidence against them using techniques primarily developed in combating drugs trafficking.

“This manual represents the essence of what we strive to do everyday at INTERPOL, which is to provide operational support to police around the world, identify any critical gaps in the capacity of law enforcement and devise practical solutions to address those gaps,” said INTERPOL Secretary General Ronald K. Noble.

“It also underlines the co-operation between INTERPOL and CITES and our joint efforts to raise awareness of wildlife crime and to combat a threat which poses an often under estimated threat to public safety and security.”

Jointly launching the guide, CITES Secretary-general Mr Willem Wijnstekers said that it would be a useful resource for frontline officers.

“We believe that providing this guide to law enforcement will help bring more wildlife criminals to justice and I am delighted to continue the close working relationship between CITES and INTERPOL.”

A controlled delivery enables law enforcement officers to monitor shipments of contraband until they arrive at their destination so that the individuals involved in the smuggling chain can be identified and arrested.

The manual is being launched during INTERPOL’s 6th International Conference on Environmental crime from 13-17 October which has brought together more than 150 wildlife and environmental crime specialists and law enforcement officials from 54 countries.

High on the agenda are the emerging issues on enforcing climate change related laws such as carbon trading and emission regulation in addition to identifying and developing initiatives and actions to combat more traditional areas of wildlife and pollution crime.