[UPDATED] Thailand extradites M’sian ‘Godfather’ to United States

KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysian Teo Boon Ching has been extradited to the United States for his alleged involvement in wildlife trafficking and money laundering from the sales of illegal poaching. 

In a statement dated October 7, the US attorney for the southern district of New York said that Teo was extradited from Thailand yesterday after he was arrested in the country on June 29 “at the request of the US pursuant to our bilateral extradition treaty”. 

The statement added that Teo goes by several names, including “Zhang”, “Datuk Seri” and “Godfather”.

US attorney Damian William noted that Teo, 57, is charged with participating in a conspiracy to traffic in more than 70kg of rhinoceros horn valued at more than US$725,000 (RM3.36 million), which involved the illegal poaching of the endangered wildlife species. 

Teo, who is believed to be the leader of the “transnational criminal enterprise”, also faces two charges for laundering the proceeds of his illegal rhinoceros horn sales. 

The singular charge of conspiracy to commit wildlife trafficking carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison while he also faces jail time of up to 20 years for the two counts of money laundering. 

“Teo is alleged to be…enriching poachers responsible for the senseless illegal slaughter of numerous endangered rhinoceros and furthering the market for these illicit products,” William was quoted as saying in the statement. 

According to a superseding indictment that the Manhattan federal court had unsealed yesterday, the international trafficking enterprise had supposedly been based in Asia “with significant operations in Malaysia and Thailand.”

“(Teo) served as a specialised smuggler, transporting rhinoceros horns from rhinoceros poaching operations primarily in Africa to the eventual customers mainly in Asia,” the court document stated.

It added that Teo had met with a “confidential source” on numerous occasions to negotiate the sale of the rhinoceros horns, with two known meetings taking place in Malaysia in July 2019.

“During those meetings, (Teo) stated that he served as a middleman – one who acquires rhinoceros horns poached by co-conspirators in Africa and ships them to customers around the world for a per-kilogramme fee.”

In August 2019, the source had acted under the instructions of law enforcement and purchased twelve rhinoceros horns from Teo with money Teo believed had come from proceeds of other illegal wildlife trafficking and was in bank accounts in New York.

Enforcement authorities had then deposited the purported proceeds into numerous Chinese bank accounts at an underground banking facility in Thailand to disguise the origins of the monetary transactions, as directed by Teo.

On August 23, 2019, Teo had arranged for his co-conspirators to deliver twelve rhinoceros horn pieces to undercover law enforcement personnel in Bangkok, Thailand.

A forensic examination of the rhinoceros horns concluded that two horn pieces were black rhinoceros horns while the other 10 pieces were white rhinoceros horns, both endangered species.

Teo’s arrest in Thailand on June 29 was not his first rodeo as he had previously been detained for probes in March 2015 in relation to the seizure of 135kg of elephant ivory.

Based on reports by the US Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), Teo has been involved in the business for more than two decades, playing a role of a “specialist transporter” assisting Vietnamese and Chinese syndicates to smuggle rhinoceros horns, elephant ivory and pangolin scales via Malaysian ports.

The EIA also claimed that Teo has strong connection to customs officials at the Johor Port as his customers are allowed to enter the customs clearance warehouse to verify goods once the wildlife shipments landed in the country. – The Vibes, October 8, 2022