Malaysian ‘Godfather’ of wildlife trafficking jailed in US over rhino horns

Picture courtesy of Bangkok Post.

A Malaysian wildlife trafficker has been confined to prison for a period of 18 months in the United States. The charge against the trafficker, Teo Boon Ching known infamously as the Godfather, is the planned trafficking of hundreds of kilogrammes of rhinoceros horns.

The horns, a result of the illicit poaching of rhinoceroses, are valued at millions of dollars. The rhinoceroses, a species on the brink of extinction, face a severe threat due to such activities.

A court in New York declared the sentence on Tuesday, reports from the US embassy in Thailand suggest.

At 58 years old, Teo was brought from Thailand in October last year under the charges of extradition. He is the sixth individual involved in large-scale wildlife trafficking who has been sentenced recently. These sentences are part of the ongoing efforts by the US…