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For over two decades, Chinese businessman Hou Xue Cheng has danced through Namibia's legal system, mysteriously dodging convictions for alleged death threats, wildlife crimes, smuggling, money laundering and corruption. Hou, also referred to as the Mafia Boss, was arrested with an accomplice on 7 January, after allegedly attempting to smuggle seal genitals from Namibia to Angola. His latest arrest was treated as routine, with no fanfare or media statement released by the authorities. But a closer look shows that Hou has been dodging prosecution in Namibia for over 20 years.

South Africa's succulents - small, fleshy, green plants sometimes shaped like roses or stars, and often found peeping out between rocks in dry areas - are sought after by an increasingly international collector market. The popular Conophytum, Lithops and Tylecodon are part of the group of rare and aesthetically unique succulents which are now being illegally traded all over the world. Since 2019, over 1 million succulent plants from 650 species unique to South Africa have been illegally harvested in South Africa.

The unprecedented onslaught against South African succulents now includes beautiful and rare clivias, which are being illegally harvested to extinction to supply markets abroad. In 2023, the ENACT organised crime project outlined the global illegal trade in southern Africa’s succulent flora, and suggested ways to strengthen implementation of South Africa's National Response Strategy and Action Plan. In September 2024, guided by the South African National Biodiversity Institute (SANBI), stakeholders met to consider progress, using ENACT's recommendations as a benchmark.

The Special Wildlife Office of the Nigeria Customs Service, NCS, has intercepted a 40-foot container of illegal wildlife products in Vietnam. Three suspects were also arrested in connection with the crime, barely six weeks after a similar seizure by Vietnam authorities. The Nigeria Customs Service, in a statement made available to newsmen, and signed by Asst. Comptroller Abimbola Isafiade, said the operation was conducted by the combined efforts of the officers of the Federal Operations Unit, FOU, Zone C, in a joint enforcement operation with the Wildlife Justice Commission, WJC…

The International Programs Office delivered two countering illegal logging skills-building workshops to the Zambia Illegal Logging Law Enforcement Network. The workshops were aligned with forthcoming revisions to the Zambia Forestry Act and were designed to help Zambian law enforcement agencies better engage with communities and with each other to counter illegal logging.

Trotz Bemühungen um Eindämmung des Handels mit bedrohten Tierarten wie Elefanten geht der illegale Handel mit Wildtieren weltweit unvermindert weiter. Dies geht aus dem einem Bericht des Büros der Vereinten Nationen für Drogen- und Verbrechensbekämpfung (UNODC) hervor, der eine Bestandsaufnahme der weltweiten Anti-Wilderei- Maßnahmen enthält.

Despite progress to curtail the trafficking of iconic species such as elephants, illegal wildlife trafficking continues unabated on a global scale. This is according to the 2024 World Wildlife Crime Report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), which takes stock of efforts to counter poaching worldwide. The report highlights that wildlife trafficking has not seen a significant enough decrease over the past two decades, prompting a call for enhanced enforcement of existing laws, including measures to combat corruption.

The Nigeria Customs Service Special Wildlife Office, over the weekend, announced the arrest of a Shipper and supplier responsible for the illegal exportation of a 40ft container of illegal Wildlife to Vietnam. It was gathered that the illegal wildlife products were intercepted and reported in Vietnam in April 2024 while the arrest of the suspects was made by the Wildlife Justice Commission (WJC) and the enforcement officers of the Federal Operations Unit (FOU), Zone C, Owerri, Imo state.

Namibia's precious wildlife is under threat from criminals, as illegal wildlife trade has become the world's fourth-largest form of transnational crime. This was said by Ana Beatriz Martins, the European Union's ambassador to Namibia, at a press debriefing for 'Operation Saving Wildlife through Multilateral Cooperation in Africa' (Sama) in Windhoek yesterday. She said dozens of wildlife species have been pushed ever closer to extinction by habitat loss and illegal trade.

Large-scale commercial operators are evading Liberian forestry regulations by illegally processing wood destined for export on-site in forests. Timber milled in forests with chainsaws is legally restricted to the production of boards by artisanal loggers for sale on the domestic market, but reporting by Liberian newspaper. The Daylight and research by U.S.-based NGO Forest Trends has found large-scale operators producing thicker blocks of high-value wood for export.