Customs officers in Dubai have seized more than 50 endangered species of flora and fauna in three years in a sign of growing action against the region’s illegal animal trade.
Since 2015, Dubai Customs has halted 53 cases of smuggling of contraband listed by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites).
The body parts of big cats and ivory have been some of the most substantial finds at the border, an indication that the illegal trade continues to thrive.
Many are destined for the lucrative Far East black market, with Dubai a popular smuggling route for traffickers.
“Dubai Customs saves no efforts to raise awareness around the importance of protecting these endangered species and abiding by international agreements and treaties in this field,” a spokesman said.
Endangered species, live or mummified, should have permits and documents to ensure owners are not breaking Cites regulations; otherwise they will be prevented from entry to the UAE.
Robin de Bois, a French NGO concerned with endangered wildlife, monitors reports of illegal trafficking around the world.
It has listed several cases involving the UAE in its latest report, that suggests Dubai is a key trafficking thoroughfare.
In November, the manager of a commercial farm in the north west of India was arrested in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania en route to Dubai with a bag loaded with 17 lion claws destined for the black market with an estimated value of $24,000 (Dh88,000).
Three men were arrested in total, shortly before trying to board an Emirates flight to the UAE. The ringleader was ordered to pay a fine of $240,000, or face a 20-year prison sentence.
Lions are facing a growing threat across Africa due to demand for their body parts. Teeth and claws are mainly used as pendants and amulets, sold to satisfy markets in Southeast Asia and China.
Cites prohibits the commercial trade in the parts of wild African lions, although as many as 800 skeletons of captive bred lions are believed to be legally exported from South Africa every year.
Many are destined for Vietnam and Laos, where they are used for treating various ailments or as a substitute for tiger bone wine.
According to Cites, about 150 lion teeth and claws have been exported from South Africa since 2013. There is a similar demand for the body parts of tigers, jaguars and leopards.
All procedures related to wild and pet animals and their entry into the UAE is the responsibility of the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment.
As part of its efforts to protect endangered species, Dubai Customs has partnered with the International Fund for Animal Welfare to train inspectors on how to tackle and prevent smuggling.
Research by the IFAW indicates the scale of the online trade in ivory and suspected ivory remains significant.
In September, two men aged 53 and 54 were sentenced to two months in prison for ivory trafficking in Hong Kong, via Dubai.
The men were arrested after arriving on a flight from Zimbabwe, trying to smuggle 60kg of ivory hidden in four computer processors.
The haul had an estimated black market value of $1.2 million.
Also in September 2017, customs officers in Hong Kong targeted a container from the UAE loaded with 350kg of hammerhead shark fins and oceanic whitetip sharks, valued at $36,000.
In February, officials at Quetta International Airport in Pakistan seized four falcons in a wooden box hidden inside a suitcase belonging to a Pakistani national arriving from Sharjah, with an estimated value of $91,000.
The IFAW's latest report entitled Disrupt: Wildlife Cybercrime, shows the extent of the illicit industry.
Illegal animals were offered for sale in France, Germany, Russia and the UK over a period of six weeks in 2017.
Research identified 11,772 protected wildlife specimens offered for sale via 5,381 advertisements and posts on 106 online marketplaces and four social media platforms, worth approximately US $3,942,329.
The report found 1,288 ivory and suspected ivory specimens offered for sale across 996 advertisements.
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“We discovered advertisements and posts offering body parts and taxidermy from cheetahs, leopards, lions and tigers and live big cats for sale online,” said Tania McCrea-Steele, project lead of Global Wildlife Cybercrime at the IFAW.
“Shockingly, we also found more than 150 live primates for sale, as well as rhino horn products, ivory and suspected ivory, and elephant feet, skin and hair products — all available to buy over the internet.”
According to the United Nations — Interpol Strategic Report, December 2016, environmental crime is one of the top five largest crime areas globally.
A joint workshop in Lyon, France hosted by IFAW and Interpol this month united wildlife cybercrime experts, academics and tech companies to discuss wildlife crime.
“Interpol’s commitment to tackle wildlife crime takes into consideration the evolving methods by transnational criminal organisations,” said Tim Morris, Interpol Executive Director of Police Services.
“Traffickers take advantage of the lack of control of the supply chain to conceal wildlife parts in trade transportation and shipment or benefit more and more from the use of the internet, both regular and darknet, to avoid the traditional law enforcement oversight.
“We are currently facing the convergence between two developing threats: wildlife trafficking and cyber-enabled crime.”
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
How much do leading UAE’s UK curriculum schools charge for Year 6?
- Nord Anglia International School (Dubai) – Dh85,032
- Kings School Al Barsha (Dubai) – Dh71,905
- Brighton College Abu Dhabi - Dh68,560
- Jumeirah English Speaking School (Dubai) – Dh59,728
- Gems Wellington International School – Dubai Branch – Dh58,488
- The British School Al Khubairat (Abu Dhabi) - Dh54,170
- Dubai English Speaking School – Dh51,269
*Annual tuition fees covering the 2024/2025 academic year
India team for Sri Lanka series
Test squad: Rohit Sharma (captain), Priyank Panchal, Mayank Agarwal, Virat Kohli, Shreyas Iyer, Hanuma Vihari, Shubhman Gill, Rishabh Pant (wk), KS Bharath (wk), Ravindra Jadeja, Jayant Yadav, Ravichandran Ashwin, Kuldeep Yadav, Sourabh Kumar, Mohammed Siraj, Umesh Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Jasprit Bumrah.
T20 squad: Rohit Sharma (captain), Ruturaj Gaikwad, Shreyas Iyer, Surya Kumar Yadav, Sanju Samson, Ishan Kishan (wk), Venkatesh Iyer, Deepak Chahar, Deepak Hooda, Ravindra Jadeja, Yuzvendra Chahal, Ravi Bishnoi, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Siraj, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Harshal Patel, Jasprit Bumrah, Avesh Khan
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Founders: Abdulmajeed Alsukhan, Turki Bin Zarah and Abdulmohsen Albabtain.
Based: Riyadh
Offices: UAE, Vietnam and Germany
Founded: September, 2020
Number of employees: 70
Sector: FinTech, online payment solutions
Funding to date: $116m in two funding rounds
Investors: Checkout.com, Impact46, Vision Ventures, Wealth Well, Seedra, Khwarizmi, Hala Ventures, Nama Ventures and family offices
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre 6-cyl turbo
Power: 435hp at 5,900rpm
Torque: 520Nm at 1,800-5,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Price: from Dh498,542
On sale: now
Teaching in coronavirus times
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MATCH INFO
Liverpool 2 (Van Dijk 18', 24')
Brighton 1 (Dunk 79')
Red card: Alisson (Liverpool)
MOUNTAINHEAD REVIEW
Starring: Ramy Youssef, Steve Carell, Jason Schwartzman
Director: Jesse Armstrong
Rating: 3.5/5
8 traditional Jamaican dishes to try at Kingston 21
- Trench Town Rock: Jamaican-style curry goat served in a pastry basket with a carrot and potato garnish
- Rock Steady Jerk Chicken: chicken marinated for 24 hours and slow-cooked on the grill
- Mento Oxtail: flavoured oxtail stewed for five hours with herbs
- Ackee and salt fish: the national dish of Jamaica makes for a hearty breakfast
- Jamaican porridge: another breakfast favourite, can be made with peanut, cornmeal, banana and plantain
- Jamaican beef patty: a pastry with ground beef filling
- Hellshire Pon di Beach: Fresh fish with pickles
- Out of Many: traditional sweet potato pudding
Match info
What: Fifa Club World Cup play-off
Who: Al Ain v Team Wellington
Where: Hazza bin Zayed Stadium, Al Ain
When: Wednesday, kick off 7.30pm
SHOW COURTS ORDER OF PLAY
Centre Court (4pm UAE/12pm GMT)
Victoria Azarenka (BLR) v Heather Watson (GBR)
Rafael Nadal (ESP x4) v Karen Khachanov (RUS x30)
Andy Murray (GBR x1) v Fabio Fognini (ITA x28)
Court 1 (4pm UAE)
Steve Johnson (USA x26) v Marin Cilic (CRO x7)
Johanna Konta (GBR x6) v Maria Sakkari (GRE)
Naomi Osaka (JPN) v Venus Williams (USA x10)
Court 2 (2.30pm UAE)
Aljaz Bedene (GBR) v Gilles Muller (LUX x16)
Peng Shuai (CHN) v Simona Halep (ROM x2)
Jelena Ostapenko (LAT x13) v Camila Giorgi (ITA)
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA x12) v Sam Querrey (USA x24)
Court 3 (2.30pm UAE)
Kei Nishikori (JPN x9) v Roberto Bautista Agut (ESP x18)
Carina Witthoeft (GER) v Elina Svitolina (UKR x4)
Court 12 (2.30pm UAE)
Dominika Cibulkova (SVK x8) v Ana Konjuh (CRO x27)
Kevin Anderson (RSA) v Ruben Bemelmans (BEL)
Court 18 (2.30pm UAE)
Caroline Garcia (FRA x21) v Madison Brengle (USA)
Benoit Paire (FRA) v Jerzy Janowicz (POL)
Water waste
In the UAE’s arid climate, small shrubs, bushes and flower beds usually require about six litres of water per square metre, daily. That increases to 12 litres per square metre a day for small trees, and 300 litres for palm trees.
Horticulturists suggest the best time for watering is before 8am or after 6pm, when water won't be dried up by the sun.
A global report published by the Water Resources Institute in August, ranked the UAE 10th out of 164 nations where water supplies are most stretched.
The Emirates is the world’s third largest per capita water consumer after the US and Canada.
One in nine do not have enough to eat
Created in 1961, the World Food Programme is pledged to fight hunger worldwide as well as providing emergency food assistance in a crisis.
One of the organisation’s goals is the Zero Hunger Pledge, adopted by the international community in 2015 as one of the 17 Sustainable Goals for Sustainable Development, to end world hunger by 2030.
The WFP, a branch of the United Nations, is funded by voluntary donations from governments, businesses and private donations.
Almost two thirds of its operations currently take place in conflict zones, where it is calculated that people are more than three times likely to suffer from malnutrition than in peaceful countries.
It is currently estimated that one in nine people globally do not have enough to eat.
On any one day, the WFP estimates that it has 5,000 lorries, 20 ships and 70 aircraft on the move.
Outside emergencies, the WFP provides school meals to up to 25 million children in 63 countries, while working with communities to improve nutrition. Where possible, it buys supplies from developing countries to cut down transport cost and boost local economies.
