Press and Publications

Operation Charm has its first enforcement success

20 December 2006 / Metorpolitan Police

A 53 year old South East London man was fined a total of £5,400 at Greenwich Magistrates Court for offering for sale specimens of endangered species.

In July 2006, the Metropolitan Police Wildlife Crime Unit, as part of Operation Charm, executed a search warrant at a Traditional Chinese Medicine outlet in Deptford, South East London, where a number of products were seized. A further search was conducted at an outlet in Eltham and products seized and the shop owner arrested.

Mr Shunwei Ma, the owner of the Traditional Chinese Medicine outlets, pleaded guilty to 18 charges under the Control of Trade in Endangered Species (Enforcement) Regulations 1997 and was fined £300 on each. The offences related to products claiming ingredients derived from protected species including bear, seahorse, saiga antelope, musk deer and rare species of orchid and tree fern.

Mr John Elliott prosecuting told the court that the continued unlawful trade in these products has a serious effect on bio-diversity.

Background

The trade in endangered species is controlled by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) and has been signed by 168 countries.

Trade is controlled by a system of government licences or in the case of the most endangered species, commercial trade is banned. Commercial trade in elephant ivory, other than antiques, is banned in the UK.

The illegal trade in endangered species is a very lucrative area of international crime and is thought to be worth ten billion US dollars every year. In London, the Metropolitan Police has seized more than 30,000 items made from endangered species since the launch of Operation Charm in 1995, an ongoing initiative against this trade.

Operation Charm was recently relaunched as a partnership between the Metropolitan Police, Greater London Authority, IFAW, WWF-UK, ACAP and the David Shepherd Foundation. For more information please see www.operationcharm.org