In keeping with recent efforts to ramp up action against environmental crime, INTERPOL has highlighted nine fugitives for breaking laws related to illegal logging, poaching and the wildlife trade, illegal fishing, and waste dumping, among other crimes.
There is Nicolaas Antonius Cornelis Maria Duindam, who is wanted for smuggling wildlife from Brazil; Feisal Mohamed Ali, the alleged leader of an elephant poaching gang; and Sergey Darminov who is wanted for making hundreds of millions of dollars off of illegal crab fishing.
“We believe that the capture of these criminals on the run will contribute to the dismantlement of transnational organized crime groups who have turned environmental exploitation into a professional business with lucrative revenues,” said Stefano Carvelli, Head of INTERPOL’s Fugitive Investigative Support unit.
This is the first time that INTERPOL, the world’s biggest international police organization, has gone after individuals specifically for environmental crimes.
“Even the smallest detail, which you might think is insignificant, has the potential to break a case wide open when combined with other evidence the police already have,” said Ioannis Kokkinis, Criminal Intelligence Officer with INTERPOL’s Fugitive Investigative Support.
The release of the nine most wanted is a part of Operation Infra (International Fugitive Round Up and Arrest) Terra, which launched in October. This is an initiative to apprehend 139 fugitives linked to environmental crimes around the world.
The Nine Most Wanted:
- Adriano Giacobone / Italian / Illegal disposal of waste
- Ahmed Kamran / Pakistani / Illegal smuggling of live wild animals
- Ariel Bustamante Sanchez / Mexican / Illegal fishing
- Ben Simasiku / Zambian / Ivory smuggling
- Bhekumusa Mawillis Shiba / South African? / Rhino poaching
- Feisal Mohamed Ali / Kenyan / Ivory smuggling
- Nicolaas Antonius Cornelis Maria Duindam / Dutch / Wildlife trafficking
- Sergey Darminov / Russian and German / Illegal crab fishing
- Sudiman Sunoto / Indonesian / Illegal logging
This article was originally written and published by Jeremy Hance, a contributing writer for news.mongabay.com. For the original article and more information, please click HERE.
