On the loading direction of the international border crossing point "Blagoveshchensk-Heihe" by officers of Blagoveshchensk customs in cooperation with the Office of the Federal security service and the Border guard Department of FSB of Russia across the Amur region revealed the fact of smuggling of derivatives and body parts of the Amur tiger.
As reports a press-service of the Blagoveshchensk customs, the truck, under control of the citizen of Russia, who moved across the border to China, behind the driver's seat with a guard dog by nickname the Navigator was discovered a plastic bag with a mass of organic matter with a total weight of 1.2 kg and a transparent plastic bag with two fragments of the jaw of an animal weighing 50 grams.
“As it was established during the expert examination, the seized bones are fragments of the upper jaw of a tiger cub at the age of 4-6 months, organic mass is the "meat" of the muscle and bone of the Amur tiger with the addition of similar tissues bear and other animals, – says Director of the Primorsky branch of the Amur tiger Center Sergey Aramilev. - If tiger parts at first make derivatives, in this case a kind of "meat", and then move abroad, the product is meant for end individual consumer and not for resale. I hope that law enforcement agencies will be able to spin the chain to the end, and all participants of criminal group will suffer a just punishment”.
The Canine Service of the Far Eastern Operational Customs (DVOT) plays a significant role in curbing the facts of the illegal movement of derivatives and objects provided by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). Only in 2014, 56 criminal cases were initiated with the participation of service dogs and 104 cases of illegal movement of CITES derivatives and objects were stopped.
These data were announced last week at a meeting of the service for the organization of cynological activities of the Far Eastern Operational Customs on the results of work in 2014 and on setting targets for the first half of 2015. The meeting was attended not only by the staff of the cynological service, but also by the Acting First Deputy Head of the DVOT Vladimir Serov, heads of other divisions of the DVOT, as well as representatives of the Amur Tiger Center.
The Amur Tiger Center noted on the whole the effectiveness of the Canine Service of the Far Eastern Operational Customs to curb the facts of illegal movement of objects of the animal world. According to the results of work for 2014, the Center thanked Vladimir Gulevatov, Head of the Cynology Department of the Ussurian Operational Customs, under whose leadership about 70% of such movements were stopped.
“The use of service dogs in order to curb the movement of derivatives of rare and endangered animals shows its effectiveness. That is why we are developing our cooperation with the dog service and customs in general - commented the first deputy general director Alexandra Vishnevskaya. We will continue to work in this direction in 2015, in particular, we will assist in the use of service dogs in the work of other environmental protection structures, such as hunting”.
On the fact of smuggling of derivatives and body parts of the Amur tiger by the Blagoveshchensk Customs, a criminal case has been initiated. Part 1 of Art. 226.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation - illegal movement across the customs border of highly valuable wild animals and aquatic biological resources belonging to species listed in the Red Book of the Russian Federation and (or) protected by international treaties of the Russian Federation, their parts and derivatives. The driver faces imprisonment for a term of 3 to 7 years with a fine of up to one million rubles. Currently, investigative actions are being carried out within the framework of the criminal case.