[Cambodian] Woman tried to smuggle tiger penis into NZ

May 13, 2010
NZPA

AUCKLAND - A Cambodian woman who tried to smuggle a tiger penis and gallbladder into New Zealand could face a fine of up to $79,840.

The woman was searched after MAF Biosecurity (MAF) detector dog Kelso indicated she was carrying something when she arrived at Auckland airport from Singapore on Saturday.

The dog's handler, Courtney Moore, did a search and found a stocking tied around her waist and a plastic bag around her leg, MAF said in a statement.

The find sent a strong signal to people thinking about smuggling illegal goods into New Zealand, MAF detector dog program manager Craig Hughes said.

The tiger is an endangered species and protected under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.

MAF said that while some cultures valued tiger parts for supposed medicinal benefit, the risk to the species was extreme and globally all tiger species were endangered.

Genuine tiger penises were rare and could be sold at inflated prices for use in adornment, rituals and medicines.

The woman was travelling with her daughter and husband.

If she was charged could be fined or jailed for up to five years or both under the Biosecurity Act.

MAF said it had yet to decide if the woman would be charged.

Two Border Police Shot by Army Soldiers

By Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
05 August 2008

Two Cambodian customs officials were injured in a shooting by Cambodian soldiers at the Vietnam border Tuesday, after they tried to stop a truck smuggling construction equipment into Cambodia.

Kang Heap, 47, and Chan Chheang, 46, both received injuries, but neither of them was in critical condition, after they were beaten, kicked and accidentally shot by the soldiers, customs officials and border police said.

The two had tried to stop two trucks carrying construction goods at the Longky checkpoint, Bavet commune, Chantria district, Svay Rieng province.

The soldiers were identified as "Mr. Chheang" the son of a high-ranking military official in Phnom Penh, and "Mr. Chap."

Soy Samath, a border policeman in Svay Rieng, said an investigation would follow. No one has so far been arrested.

Tuesday's incident marked the first time Cambodian soldiers have been accused of shooting customs police in Svay Rieng.

Pan Simon, director of the customs department of the Ministry of Finance, could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

54 Myanmar workers suffocate in back of truck in Thailand

Thursday, April 10, 2008
The Associated Press

BANGKOK, Thailand: Fifty-four migrant workers from Myanmar, most of them women, suffocated in the back of an unventilated seafood truck in southern Thailand while being smuggled to the resort island of Phuket, police said Thursday.

The victims, along with 47 survivors, had been forced to stand in the truck's sweltering and padlocked container, police and survivors said. They were about two hours into their trip late Wednesday in Ranong province near Myanmar when they started collapsing and the driver stopped, police and survivors said.

Twenty-one of the survivors were hospitalized and the rest held for questioning, he said.

"I thought everyone was going to die," said Saw Win, a 30-year-old survivor, told The Associated Press from police custody. "I thought I was going to die. If the truck had driven for 30 minutes more, I would have died for sure."

Win said that about 30 minutes into the trip workers pounded on the container, screamed for air and called the driver, who briefly turned on the air conditioning. The air conditioning later went off, and they called the driver again 30 minutes later but his phone was off. They continued pounding and screaming until he stopped the truck about an hour later, unlocked the container and ran off when he saw the state of the victims, Win said.

Local television footage showed police lifting bodies out of the container and images of the container empty except for a few pieces of clothing. The dead workers — many wearing little more than T-shirts, shorts and flip-flops — were seen laid out on the floor of a local charity.

"When police got to the scene, they found that 54 of the workers were already dead in the packed container truck," Kraithong said.

Of the dead, 37 were women and 17 were men.

Police did not immediately know what jobs they were heading for, but illegal migrants from Thailand's impoverished neighbor generally come to the country to work in the fishing and construction industries or as maids.

Police were searching for the truck's driver, who they accused of failing to provide enough air conditioning in the back of the truck, and members of the smuggling gang they believed arranged the trip.

Kraithong said the truck normally was used to transport seafood.

The incident was reminiscent of the deaths in 2001 of 58 illegal Chinese migrants in a sweltering tomato truck in Britain, which exposed the murky underworld of people-smuggling gangs who profit from migrants who hope to earn a living in more developed countries.

A group of 19 Latin American migrants died from overheating and suffocation in a tractor-trailer truck in the U.S. state of Texas in 2003.

The survivors of Wednesday's mass suffocation told police they snuck into Ranong province from Myanmar's Victoria Point by fishing boat Wednesday night and were then packed into a small container truck for a trip to Phuket.

The 101 migrants were crammed into a container about 2.2 meters by 6 meters (7 feet by 20 feet), and apparently began dying about two hours into their trip because of a lack of ventilation, Kraithong said.

After the driver stopped the truck, he saw some of the passengers dead and fled the scene, Kraithong said. The survivors then flagged down a passerby to alert police, who arrived about 30 minutes later.

Ranong province is about 460 kilometers (290 miles) south of Bangkok just across from Myanmar's Victoria Point, and is regarding as a major point of trade between the two countries.

There are about a million Myanmar workers registered to work in Thailand, and an additional million estimated to be in the country illegally to work mostly as laborers, joining hundreds of thousands from Cambodia and Laos.

The illegal workers lack legal protections and are often ruthlessly exploited.

Some of the Myanmar migrants flee their country to escape armed conflicts between ethnic minority rebels and the Myanmar army, and others for lack of economic opportunity in their impoverished country, one of the poorest in Asia.

The London-based human rights group Amnesty International found in a 2005 report that workers from Myanmar take jobs that Thais consider too dirty, dangerous or demeaning, "are routinely paid well below the Thai minimum wage, work long hours in unhealthy conditions and are at risk of arbitrary arrest and deportation."

Many also face great risk in reaching Thailand. In December, authorities recovered the bodies of 22 Myanmar migrants found floating off the west coast of Thailand in the Andaman Sea. They were believed to be trying to enter Thailand illegally.

Cambodia bans Communist Vietnamese Pigs

A vendor transports pigs on a motorcycle at a market in Phnom Penh August 17, 2007. Cambodia has banned the import of pigs and pork from neighbouring Vietnam, Laos and Thailand in fear of a porcine disease spreading from China, Agriculture Minister Chan Sarun said on Friday. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea

Pork-borne Disease Outbreak Fear in Cambodia

Friday, August 17, 2007
AFP

Cambodia Thursday banned the import of live pigs and pork products, citing fears that outbreaks of pork-borne diseases in other countries could devastate farms here.

The move came as China battles a recent outbreak of blue ear disease that led to a mass cull of pigs.

In neighbouring Vietnam, 26 people have been admitted to a Hanoi hospital with a bacterial infection from diseased pigs, leading to two confirmed human deaths.

Twenty others were treated this year in southern Vietnam for the same illness.

Thursday's ban is also aimed at cutting down on pork products smuggled into the country, mostly from Vietnam.

Contraband pork raises "the possibility of infection among pigs in Cambodia and could block the development of family farms," said the public directive, which was ordered by Prime Minister Hun Sen.

Most small family farms in rural Cambodia have at least one pig, and pork is a key source of food, as well as an important commodity for often impoverished farmers.

The order does allow piglets to be imported for breeding or research purposes, as long as they receive approval from the agriculture ministry.

Cambodia has taken similar measures against poultry imports in the past in a bid to contain bird flu, which has hit hard the poultry industry in both Vietnam and Thailand.

Bangkok: the sales capital of stolen antiquities from Cambodia and Indochina

History for sale: Burmese sandstone figures from the 16th century. (Photo: Tom Cockrem)

The thrill is in the hunt

July 15, 2007
Source: The Sun-Herald (Australia)

Think there are bargain antiques to be had in Bangkok? Tom Cockrem tells how to get one without being had.

IT'S TRUE, you can't always be sure that what you buy is genuinely old; and yes, you can pay through the nose for a piece that's meant to be. But when it comes to antique shopping in Bangkok, for the collector - avid and addicted - there can be no more fun than this, anywhere.

To start with, there are simply so many outlets - literally scores of them. And they are fairly well concentrated too. Then there's the variety. Bangkok is a clearing house for treasures from all parts of Indochina - Myanmar (Burma), Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. It's where all the very finest art works go.

Yes, the thrill of antique shopping in Bangkok is in the hunt. And it's a thrill not reserved for big money. The art enthusiast and casual browser will see the better shops are miniature museums - very gorgeous ones - where an excellent schooling in oriental art and history can be gained for free.

I have been poking about in Bangkok's antique shops for longer than I care to remember. Hardly ever have I entered one and not found at least one piece that is simply screaming to be bought - a 14th century U-Thong-style bronze seated Buddha, a Ching Dynasty Chinese teapot with ornate brass handle, an intricately woven Hmong backpack, an elegant caledon ceramic from Chiang Mai.

I generally limit my hunting range to the giant elongated U described by three big thoroughfares: Surawong Road, Silom Road and New Road. These straddle the Sathon and Bangrak districts in Bangkok's south-east. Falling just outside the base of the U is the city's biggest antique shopping complex - River City. It sits on the banks of the Chao Phraya River a little south-west of the Surawong and New Road intersection. More than 70 dealers have their largest outlets here. But let's get back to Surawong.

Two fine antique shops are found at the northern end of this long, busy road, south of the nightlife district of Patpong. These are Neold Collection and Erawan Antiques. Neold is run by an interior designer, whose skills are amply brought to bear in the shop. The more sober Erawan takes pride in its Ching Dynasty porcelains and Burmese polychrome woodcarvings. Both places are very well established and guarantee the authenticity of their wares.

From here it's perhaps best to go straight to River City by taxi.

Two of the most reputable shops in the complex are the Fine Arts and the Old Time, both on the fourth floor. The former houses a fine collection of Khmer stone figures and jewellery, and takes special pride in its collection of heirloom silk textiles done by the Neua people in northern Laos. The Old Time is noted for its architectural ornaments, traditional Thai paintings and antique furniture from both the orient and Europe.

Folk art collectors will delight in the Lao carvings and puppets in the Verandah. This is another shop whose highly creative displays make it a joy to browse around. Good Luck Chinese Porcelains is crammed with a stunning array of mainly blue and white Ching Dynasty pieces.

New Road is Bangkok's most traditional antique strip. Crossing it might mean taking your life in your hands. But it's worth it just to see Lek Gallery, which has three floors of almost life-size bronze and wooden Burmese Buddha figures. Lek has also opened a second outlet - even more sumptuous - on the road's southern side. Art And Antiques next door almost succeeds in rivaling the grandeur of its neighbour, and specialises in Chinese furnishings and ceramics.

At the other end of the scale is the Betel Box. Though unlikely to gain an award for its decor, this tiny fluro-lit outlet has definitely the most extensive and fascinating collection of these curious little silver and wooden containers available in Bangkok.

Then there is Anna Antiques. To find this local icon you turn left out of New Road into Silom. Anna is a straight-shooting dealer, and quick to point out that all of what you see on the ground floor - a jungle of bronze and sandstone figures - are reproductions. Assessing their quality, you are stunned to learn this fact. Such is the skill of the local Thai artisans.

Silom Road runs parallel to Surawong. To see what it has to offer, you really have to walk. A little way past Anna and on the opposite side is Silom Village - a secluded retreat crammed with craft shops and restaurants, plus a couple of "antique" shops. But you mainly come for home wares and craft. Silom does contain several serious antique shops, King Antiques, Kittichai Antiques among them.

The Silom Road promenade is long. But relief is in sight. The street's northern end is studded with super "cool" coffee shops. Here you can luxuriate in air-conditioned comfort - cappuccino in hand - and congratulate yourself on the purchases you've made.

You might then ask yourself "Have I been jipped?" And there's just a chance you have. To minimise the risk, it's best to ask the proprietor for a written guarantee, describing the object, its style, age and condition, as well as the price. You should also bear in mind that religious artifacts - Buddha figures and the like - require special permission for export. Reputable proprietors can assist with this as well.

But if your 18th century Mandalay carved Buddha turns out to be a 2007 edition that has done its time in mud or even buffalo urine, at least you have the consolation of knowing that many before you have been similarly duped.

It may at last be best to do as many do: shun pricey "originals" and settle for the likes of an Anna reproduction - then tell your friends it's not.

TRIP NOTES

* Getting there: Thai Airways flies to Bangkok from Sydney twice daily. Phone 1300 651 960 or see http://www.thaiairways.com.au.

* When to go: The cooler season is from November to February.

* Read: Lonely Planet has a current edition on Thailand.

* Recommended shopping areas: Highlights at River City include the Fine Arts (antiques and textiles), the Old Time (antiques and furnishings), Good Luck (Chinese porcelain), Hong Galleries (Chinese porcelain and oriental furnishings), and the Verandah (folk art). Visit Surawong for Neold Collection (architectural ornaments, antiques and craft) and Erawan (Chinese porcelain, Burmese carvings). On New Road, check out Lek Gallery (Khmer and Burmese sculpture) and Betel Box (betel boxes and old silver). At Silom Road, it is worth visiting Anna (reproductions, genuine antiques upstairs).

Mussomeli: Smuggling from overseas to Cambodia is corruption

Thursday, June 21, 2007
Rasmei Kampuchea newspaper
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

During a recent meeting with farmers raising pigs in Prey Nhoy village, Krol Ko commune, Svay Chrum district, Svay Rieng province, Joseph Mussomeli, the US Ambassador to Cambodia, said that the smuggling of pigs and other goods from overseas to Cambodia without paying any custom fees is a “serious case of corruption.” Mussomeli made this remark when the farmers were asking the Cambodian government to help stop the illegal smuggling of foreign pigs into Cambodia, especially from Vietnam and Thailand.

With broad smiles on their faces, welcoming the visitors to their home, 22-year-old Kaing Cheav Lay and Sin Kanha, his 21-year-old wife, said during an interview with reporters, under the presence of Mussomeli, that: “Nowadays, our pig raising business has made a lot of progress, including the ability to manage and protect, this is much different from the past before we joined the Medium, Small, and Micro Enterprises (MSME) system of Cambodia.”

The strengthening of MSME in Cambodia is a program to sustain the economy supported by USAID which is operating in four Cambodian provinces where the population incomes are low, such as Kampong Cham, Kratie, Prey Veng, and Svay Rieng province. Mussomeli said: “I am very interested in what they are doing, and I don’t want honor the US government, but instead, I want to honor the Cambodian families that are involved in these enterprises because they received our guidance, and our support which allowed them to prosper with their small family businesses.”

Mussomeli noted that “in the span of only one year period, the 1,000 families which received the support from this program have made a lot of progress, they now have quality pigs to sell and their livelihood has improved much better than before.”

Mussomeli said: “There are a lot more work to be done and this involves corruption, because there are businessmen who imported pigs from Vietnam to sell in Phnom Penh without paying any custom fees, this is the reason why these pig farmers cannot compete with these businessmen.”

He added: “Because of this (corruption) issue, pig and fish farmers who take their stock to sell at the market, must pay taxes, or they have to pay fees to the cops, whereas the businessmen who brought in pigs or goods from Thailand or Vietnam, they sometimes don’t have to pay any tax at all.” Mussomeli went on to call the smuggling of pigs and goods from overseas to Cambodia without paying fees to the national budget as “a serious case of corruption.”

Mussomeli said: “Therefore, we must help Cambodian families a lot, then the farmers’ families will have the ability to make larger profits. They can make even more money than this if Cambodia can put to an end the corruption.”

Global Witness asks Donor Countries to hold discussions with Cambodia

16 June 2007
By Mayarith
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Socheata

An official of Global Witness, which published a report accusing illegal logging corruption in Kompong Thom province, has raised a number of issues for the donor countries to discuss with the representatives of the government of Cambodia at next week’s (CG meeting).

Simon Taylor, Global Witness director, said that donor countries, which provide aid to help in the development and to establish the base for democracy in Cambodia, should raised the issues that Cambodia is currently facing with to discuss with the Cambodian government to come up with a resolution.

Simon Taylor said: “We strongly request that donor countries raised the issues shown in Global Witness report about corruption, not only about illegal logging, we want to see a resolution from high-ranking government officials in the fight against corruption, in the bad management of natural resources, and in the management of other public assets, as well in the smuggling perpetrated by powerful military officers, in the kidnappings, and in the threats against people. And we also want to see the government perform a detailed investigation into all these issues. I want to clearly state that if they (donor countries) still refuse to raise the issues (with the government) as we requested, then future aid and the relationship between the government of Cambodia and the donor countries will be affected.”

The Consultative Group meeting between donor countries and Cambodia will take place on Tuesday 12 June to Wednesday 20 June. It will be participated by representatives from Australia, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Japan, South Korea, Sweden, the UK and the USA.

Gasoline smuggling in Kampot province and Kep City

09 May 2007
By Kim Pov Sottan
Radio Free Asia
Translated from Khmer by Heng Soy

While the price of gasoline in Cambodia is higher than that in neighboring countries, gas smuggling is on the rise in provinces bordering with neighboring countries.

In Kampot province and Kep City, gas smuggling is done by sea. Kep residents who have no jobs, and who are very poor, as well as other villagers from Trapeang Lapov district, Angkor Chey district, Dang Tung district, in Kampot provinces, are involved in the smuggling. A large majority of these people act as laborers transporting gasoline for large businessmen, and only a small number of them are independent smugglers.

41-year-old Korm Samin said that he is into the smuggling trade for the past one year because his fishing trade is getting continually worst. He complained that currently, the smuggling trade is also getting more difficult as well, the profit is low, and he also faces police arrest.

Korm Samin said: “In this (smuggling) trade, you fear that you will be caught (by the police) because when you get caught, you lose, and we wouldn’t have anything to eat at home for 2 or 3 days. It’s never sure, sometime you leave (from home) at 5:00 PM, and you get there (Vietnam) at 7:00 PM, then you return back at 9 to 10:00 PM to come back home. [The amount of smuggled gas] is not steady, sometime you smuggled in 100 containers, but at other times, you would bring in 70 to 80 containers only. Before, it was cheaper, when the price of gas was cheaper, the cost is a littler over 50,000 riels (~$12.50), and we get here over 60,000 riels (~$15.00)”

Gas smugglers operate by sea using small boats departing from Kep city, they head to the Vietnamese border, in Ha Tien province. After purchasing gas there, they have to head back home in the middle of the night, and they have to make it back before daybreak in order to avoid large waves.

20-year-old Khieu from Kep City is working for others to transport smuggled gas. He said that each trip earns him up to 20,000 riels (~$5.00) only. “They call us to be the boat skipper for the large smugglers. They are the ones who make a lot of profit, for me, I receive only a small amount, about 10 to 15,000 riels only (~$2.50 to $3.75). Sometimes, if we make the wrong run, and take a bad path, the Vietnamese could shoot us, some even died from this shooting.”

50-year-old Chak Kol is another transporter of smuggled gas for others. He said that some of those who transport smuggled gas have been arrested by the Vietnamese authority and thrown in jail for 4 or 5 days, before the Cambodian authority asked for their release back. “We don’t get much, but we have nothing else, so we just do it, we have to endure it, no matter how hard it is. When the Vietnamese [authority] catches us, they confiscate everything, the gas, the boat, and they throw us in jail. One time, some of the smugglers were arrested [by the Vietnamese], then our side [Cambodian authority] went there by boat, and asked for their release, it was then that [the Vietnamese] release them and they could come back home. It’s not like we can do whatever we want, we cannot just transport [the smuggled gas] day and night as we see fit, we can’t do that.”

According to the local people, the large gas traders, who have the backing from officials, are the ones who can smuggle in tens of thousands of liters of gas and bring them into Kampot province and Kep City, but for the small time smugglers, the most they can bring in per trip is about 100 liters only.

Kong Chea, the police chief of Kep City, claimed that his police force used to arrest the small smugglers there, but that the majority of them travel to Kampot province instead. “There are smugglers here, we always arrest them, and now they don’t come here anymore. My force lacks transportation means to patrol at sea. We cannot go to sea, if we want to go to sea, we must rent a boat. But, in Kep City, there is not much to worry about.”

Thach Khon, Kampot province governor, admitted about gas smuggling in his province. Each month, the authority confiscates about 20,000 liters of smuggled gas. He said that because of the vast extent of the sea shore, the authority has a hard time eliminating this problem.

Thach Khon said: “… we try hard to arrest them, a report just came in that almost 5,000 liters of smuggled gas were caught, and each month, we confiscate tens of thousands of liters of gas. But, our sea is large, and we lack equipment, this doesn’t mean that we don’t make arrest, we do make arrest, like today, I just signed in a report saying that more than 1,000 liters, almost 2,000 liters [of smuggled were confiscated].”

Even though the authority claims that it intensely goes after gas smuggling, smuggling still take place in Kampot province and Kep City.

A local official of the Adhoc human rights group said that the authority only arrest poor people who smuggled in 1 to 2 gas containers, but it never arrest large smuggled gas traders who have the backing of high-ranking officials.