Thai police arrest ‘kingpin’ in Asian wildlife trafficking

BANGKOK: Thai police have arrested an alleged kingpin in Asia’s illegal trade in endangered species, dealing a blow to a family-run syndicate that smuggles elephant ivory, rhino horn and tiger parts to Chinese and Vietnamese dealers.

Boonchai Bach, 40, a Vietnamese national with Thai citizenship, was arrested on Friday evening over the smuggling of 14 rhino horns worth around $1 million from Africa to Thailand.

His downfall follows the December 12 arrest of Nikorn Wongprachan, a Thai National Parks and Wildlife Conservation official, at Bangkok’s main airport as he attempted to smuggle the rhino horn from the quarantine section to a nearby apartment.