smuggled birds

[arthur]

From todays Melbourne Age


Bird-egg smugglers fly free after jurisdiction bungle
Mark Russell
April 4, 2011

Source: Avicultural Federation of Australia
A SECRET dossier has revealed a couple living near Bendigo are running an international bird-egg smuggling syndicate.
The Age has obtained a copy of the dossier, which was compiled by wildlife investigators and presented to prosecutors.
The document indicates a courier, Mark Christian, blew the lid on the gang's operations after returning to Melbourne from South Africa with 33 exotic bird eggs strapped to his body.
The investigation team believed they had a strong case against many of the gang members given Christian's detailed confession, and they are angry that their seven-year investigation was shut down by authorities because of a bureaucratic bungle. They remain convinced the syndicate is continuing to operate untouched in northern Victoria.
The ringleaders, according to investigators, are a couple living near Bendigo whose interest in birds turned into a lucrative bird-egg smuggling business. The husband, known as The Runner, would either smuggle the eggs out of the country himself or employ couriers to do the job.
One of the first trips The Runner took was on October 7, 2000, when he travelled to Singapore with his wife. He was wearing a hidden vest carrying a dozen native bird eggs that he exchanged for exotic bird eggs and returned with them to Australia two days later.
The Runner and other couriers continued to make frequent trips to Singapore and the Philippines until Andrew Hylands was caught on October 25, 2002, at Melbourne Airport carrying 10 valuable eggs.
After Hyland's arrest, syndicate members cut back their overseas trips to avoid suspicion before resuming their activities six months later.
Christian was recruited in August 2003 when he visited The Runner's property to ask for help about hand-raising birds. The Runner's wife sold him several birds and cages before offering him a job as a courier.
At 2am on October 6, 2003, the Runner's wife removed 42 native bird eggs from an incubator and put them into a special vest which she fitted to Christian.
Christian drove to Melbourne Airport wearing the vest and caught a flight to South Africa. He travelled from Johannesburg to Port Elizabeth where he was driven to a farm and handed over the eggs. He returned to Melbourne on October 12 carrying 33 exotic parrot eggs.
The Runner's wife went to Christian's home, collected the eggs and put them, still in the vest, into a box with a hot water bottle and drove off with them.
Christian contacted investigators a few weeks later after deciding he was in the wrong business. He admitted to working for the syndicate funded by a Singapore-based crime gang and revealed how two couriers were often sent on the same flight during the high season when the smuggled eggs were ''pipping'' or ready to hatch. Each courier was carrying eggs worth up to $300,000.
The smuggled native bird eggs, according to Christian, would be exchanged for the eggs of rare and exotic birds such as macaws, Moluccan and umbrella cockatoos, Amazon parrots and conures. The resulting chicks would be hand-raised before being sold on the black market.
Acting on information from Christian, investigators arrested one syndicate member in Wangaratta and The Runner's wife. Both gave indemnified statements backing Christian's claims. The statements were videotaped.
The investigators, confident they were close to shutting down the syndicate, approached the Australian Federal Police for help.
AFP environmental crime officers set up a covert operation, attempting to infiltrate the syndicate using an undercover operative who offered to work for them as a money launderer. But they became suspicious and refused.
Eight people were eventually charged with conspiracy to control wildlife under the Victorian Crimes Act but the case fell apart when it was realised they should have been charged under federal wildlife laws not state laws, given the scope of the syndicate's operations.
Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment investigators submitted revised briefs of evidence against the eight defendants to the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions in 2008 recommending federal charges be laid.
But the federal agency determined late last year that there was insufficient evidence to mount a successful prosecution and no new charges would be laid. The investigation, code-named Operation Janitor, was shut down and the monitoring of the syndicate stopped.
As for Christian, he pleaded guilty in the Ringwood Magistrates Court to two charges of exporting and importing endangered species specimens and received a suspended six-month jail term and 12-month good behaviour bond.

[jusdeb]

For crying out loud , why not just give them free reign . Do these idiot judges realise any one or a number of these birds could be carrying some funky contagion that could very well wipe out our bird population .....
Not fair on the birds although they know no better since they are hatched here , thats if they survive .
Didnt even read your post properly Arthur it made me so cranky ....will re read it later and thanks for posting it as I do feel its important that we are all aware of what goes on legally and illegally .

[VR1Ton]

It's quite often the case with Wildlife services, & even the RSPCA not to get a conviction barring a full blown confession & being caught in the act, but even then it's only about 1 in 7 that actually get covicted & sentenced, because of beuracracy, & lack of training of staff, from feild officers right throuh to legal. Most don't even get a mark against their name.

Just a side note to the training part, NPWS officer at Gunnedah was unable to identify & was unaware of the class for Superb Fruit Pigeons.

[jusdeb]

Yes and NPWS officer doing an inspection on friends aviaries was frantically looking through his hand book to find a Golden Shoulder to prove to the owner that that was what it was ....it was indeed a Split Lutino Red Rump that looked not a thing like a G/S.

Then wanted details about what was chirping in the nest box and how many

Oh dear .....

[GregH]

Damn you sent that too late not only was he caught but I'm leaving. Seven years here and never seen a blue-faced PF or Emblema and this guy could have brung me some. I guess he'll get seven years now!

[arthur]

Unfortunately NPWS officers seem to run to a type . . and the stories of their arrogance and ignorance are legion

Haven't seen one for some time . . and that suits me

Last one to visit virtually abused me . . ranting on the harm I was doing to birds in the wild by keeping mutations

I pointed out that aviary bred birds, mutation or not, had nothing to do with wild populations

His response was that people who were irresponsible enough to cross birds of different species should not be given a licence

Pretty hard to argue rationally against ignorance like that

AND . . the frightening bit . . these guys have the power to issue 'on the spot fines'

[jusdeb]

No use arguing with them since you cant educate an idiot .

[VR1Ton]

Same as fisheries wannabe cops that couldn't make it into the acadamey, only problem is half the time they've got more power than a cop, entry with out warrent(although limited, but still), impounding of gear/vehicle ect. It is scary.

[E Orix]

Be very careful when being involved with them.At your home or away.
I made the mistake of trying to help one who pleaded ignorance and was.
My idea was if I helped him then he would be able to make rational educated decisions.
Was I wrong,I was charged with what I class as minor breaches and ended up in court.
Why not just an on the spot fine, well that is conjecture but at that stage the director was only acting so
convictions look far better in his cv he is now the permanent head. They didn't care one bit about the birds but they got their result.
Now I have no Licence, do not want one and don't require one.But I now know my rights and their conditions of entry and I
wait patiently for the representative to return.
By the way this happened 4 years ago and still haven't been graced by their attendance.
It is so sad that people are given power and the majority think so little of their position to not even bother to learn their so called trade.
One could think that they are stealing oxygen.

As for the egg smugglers,if the had an educated program of very limited access to birds from over seas then the need to smuggle would
not be as attractive.
The days of anything being smuggled on a persons body are virtually finished,airports around the world are installing body Xrays.
Yes you stand in a semi cubical feet on the foot marks hands in the air.The xray is taken you wait 30sec for it to be developed. Then they let you through,
another Asian airport physically pats you down once in transit.
As for the desease risk if it was there why is it legal to import Pigeons from overseas.Of all birds,its a specie that is let out to free fly.
Its a pity so we must breed what we have.

[jusdeb]

Am I only assuming there is a quaranteen period for imported pigeons ? Please dont tell me they come in and are not put into quaranteen the way cats and dogs etc are .