Hunting The Elusive Rhino-Horn Cartel Of Thailand (extensive)
- Kung-fu Hillbilly
- Expatriate
- Posts: 4152
- Joined: Sat May 17, 2014 11:26 am
- Reputation: 4963
- Location: Behind you.
Hunting The Elusive Rhino-Horn Cartel Of Thailand (extensive)
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