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<\/a>Cardoso said these tactics show just how organized these operations have become. While there\u2019s still an active network of small smugglers, more professionalized groups are taking advantage of the legal trade to transport wildlife \u2014 from small fish to monkeys \u2014 across the border to neighboring countries, and eventually to Europe, China or the United States.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not just about smuggling wildlife in suitcases anymore. It\u2019s about laundering money and laundering the animals themselves to pretend their business is legitimate,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
In Brazil, as in many other countries, the legal trade of some species is allowed based on CITES, the convention on the global trade in wild animals and plants. This international agreement was introduced in 1973 and has since been ratified by 183 countries, including Brazil, and the European Union, known as parties to the convention. In that time, it has also opened the door for falsifying a wide variety of documents to meet CITES requirements.<\/p>\n
According to Transparency\u2019s new report, from 2010 to 2022, smugglers in Brazil were caught altering everything from fishing permits to export licenses. They mislabeled species\u2019 names, altered their places of origin, and falsely declared wild-caught animals as being bred in captivity. They also counterfeited bird rings and microchips.<\/p>\n
Over the years, IBAMA, the Brazilian environmental protection agency, and the Federal Police have tried to fight back by digitizing forms and permits. But according to police records, even these e-documents are being forged. Part of the problem is the lack of a comprehensive and unified digital system that monitors the transit, sale and apprehension of species leaving the Amazon.<\/p>\n
Smugglers aren\u2019t only circumventing the law by falsifying documents; they\u2019re also making more money. \u201cIt\u2019s a very profitable tactic,\u201d Cardoso said. \u201cWhen a monkey is traded with a false receipt, giving the impression that it has been legally obtained, that animal will sell for double the price.\u201d<\/p>\n This type of operation relies on corruption at every step of the way, according to the report. It identifies several instances of bribery along smuggling routes in Brazil \u2014 including police officers paid to ignore suspicious cargo, veterinarians paid to issue false reports, and airport employees paid to bypass luggage scanners.<\/p>\n Most concerning, Cardoso said, are instances of public officials facilitating wildlife trafficking. \u201cTo have an idea of the extent of this bribery network, just look at the diversity of public agents involved,\u201d he said. \u201cWe know of federal inspection agents, state police officers, and politicians who have accepted bribes but were supposed to be working to protect wild animals.\u201d<\/p>\n With so many people to bribe, trafficking organizations require cash \u2014 lots of it. This suggests they receive funds from even larger criminal enterprises. \u201cWe\u2019ve seen many instances in the Amazon of drug trafficking financing the illegal wildlife trade,\u201d Melina Risso, research director at the Igarap\u00e9 Institute, an environmental think tank, told Mongabay. \u201cThat is very clear regarding ornamental fish taken across the border to Colombia.\u201d<\/p>\n Criminal groups smuggling drugs and wildlife across the Brazilian border likely share more than just resources. \u201cWe know these organizations have also been using the same logistics and transportation methods,\u201d Risso said. In 2022, British journalist Dom Phillips and Indigenous rights advocate Bruno Pereira were killed in the region while investigating one of these operations involving large-scale illegal fishing.<\/p>\n Although experts say more sophisticated groups are driving species smuggling from the Amazon, it\u2019s difficult to measure the extent of the activity. According to Rencta, a Brazilian network to fight animal trafficking, 38 million specimens are trafficked yearly in Brazil. While this figure may seem high, experts still consider it a very low estimate, and it doesn\u2019t distinguish how many species are coming from the Amazon Rainforest.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have a problem that official numbers are based on apprehensions,\u201d Juliana Machado Ferreira, executive director of the nonprofit organization Freeland Brazil, told Mongabay. \u201cIn the Amazon, in particular, it\u2019s very difficult to detect wildlife trafficking. The territory is huge, and it\u2019s very challenging for authorities to travel within the forest, inspect every aircraft and land border.\u201d<\/p>\n What\u2019s more, certain types of species are rarely seized by authorities. \u201cA suitcase stuffed with bags of water containing ornamental fish is much easier to detect than a person carrying reptile eggs strapped to their body,\u201d Ferreira said. \u201cLet alone bushmeat, bird feathers, and jaguar teeth that cross the border completely undetected.\u201d<\/p>\n A good way to start fixing the problem, experts say, would be for Brazilian government agencies to share the information they do have. \u201cOften apprehension data is not shared widely within the government,\u201d Ferreira told Mongabay. \u201cWithout consolidated statistics, we\u2019ll never have a true understanding of wildlife trafficking in the Amazon, how it affects biodiversity and other social and economic impacts.\u201d<\/p>\n In the future, she says, there should be a unified national strategy to combat wildlife trafficking in Brazil that involves state governments, the Federal Police, and the ministries of environment, health and education. \u201cEveryone has a different role in combating this crime, and we all have to work together.\u201d<\/p>\n Brazil\u2019s Ministry of Environment and Climate Change told Mongabay in a statement it\u2019s working on a national plan to combat illegal wildlife trafficking, one that calls for \u201cgreater articulation and coordination between federal agencies responsible for protecting wildlife.\u201d Meanwhile, the ministry has 800 agents from IBAMA working in collaboration with state governments and the Federal Police dedicated to fighting this criminal activity.<\/p>\nCorruption at every level<\/h2>\n