Hunting The Elusive Rhino-Horn Cartel Of Thailand (extensive)

Thailand is Cambodia's neighbor to the West, and this forum is dedicated to Thai news, stories, reviews, blogs, videos, Thai people and anything else related to the country. A lot of expats have both lived and worked in Cambodia and Thailand, and this area is a place to discuss all aspects of life in Thailand and what's going on there. Most topics are about Bangkok and Pattaya because of their larger populations of expatriates and tourists in those cities, but this is for all things Thai.
User avatar
Kung-fu Hillbilly
Expatriate
Posts: 4152
Joined: Sat May 17, 2014 11:26 am
Reputation: 4963
Location: Behind you.
Australia

Hunting The Elusive Rhino-Horn Cartel Of Thailand (extensive)

Post by Kung-fu Hillbilly »

Image
ILLUSTRATION: Kelsey Niziolek.

Josh Hammer
29 July 2019

Soon agents were scouring Nakhon Phanom, hunting for Boonchai Bach’s headquarters. They cruised up and down the riverfront until they noticed something: a four-storey residential structure that appeared to have an unusual security grille around the upper floors that obscured what was going on inside.

At night, from the bank of the Mekong, we could hear the pulsing of pop music across the water, in Laos. I could also make out the putter of a motorised longboat slipping through the currents carrying who-knows-what – tiger parts, maybe, or methamphetamines or any of the innumerable commodities that journey stealthily through this part of Asia under the cover of darkness. “They always move at night,” Galster said.

Run by a handful of powerful gangsters based in Thailand and Laos, Hydra utilised an army of suppliers who would deliver rhino horns, elephant tusks, lion bones, tiger bones, bear bile, the spines of pangolins (anteaters found in dwindling numbers in Southeast Asia and Africa), and other parts harvested from protected wildlife.

The taxi drops us off near midnight on Walking Street, the heart of the red-light district. Galster ducks into three clubs in rapid succession, each with a similar motif: a dozen Thai women dancing desultorily to techno music on a mirrored stage beneath strobe lights, surrounded by libidinous foreigners. At the fourth, after making inquiries with the bar hostess and the girls, Galster finds the woman he’s looking for: ‘Doll,’ one of Jayhawk’s regulars.

The two men lived opposite each other on the Mekong River – Bach on the Thai side, Keosavang in Laos. Bach’s alleged expertise was in slipping contraband into the country. “He had people based at ports and airports; he had people in northern Thailand and in southern Thailand,” Galster says. “He had smugglers, people within the private sector and government officers on his payroll.”

Full article https://www.gq.com.au/lifestyle/travel/ ... 577c5473b0
  • Similar Topics
    Replies
    Views
    Last post

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Ahrefs [Bot], KunKhmerSR and 189 guests