Press Releases

Thai Police in South Arrest Suspect and Seize Protected Wildlife During On-the-Job Investigations Training with Malaysia

(HAT YAI, February 5, 2010) – At 9:30am today, Royal Thai Police officers of the Natural Resource and Environmental Crime Suppression Division (NRECD) arrested the owner of a restaurant in the southern city Hat Yai and confiscated wild meat from protected soft shell turtles and several species of lizards.

Tiger Range Countries and partners make new conservation commitments in Thailand

Hua Hin, Thailand, January 29, 2010 – Governments from across Asia’s tiger range countries (TRCs) sent a powerful message that new efforts to save wild tigers from extinction would begin immediately and called for total protection of critical tiger habitats as the 1st Asia Ministerial Conference on Tiger Conservation concluded today at the resort of Hua Hin, Thailand.

U.S. and Thailand Prosecute Ivory Traffickers While Investigators Nab More Suspects

FREELAND Applauds International Cooperative Effort

(BANGKOK, January 20, 2010) – Authorities in the United States today charged the key suspect in an international ivory trafficking operation, who was arrested in Bangkok on November 16, 2009. Samart Chokechoyma, 36, a Thai national, was charged with violating U.S. federal smuggling statutes by the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Central District of California, while Thai authorities are prosecuting him for violating Thailand’s Wild Animal Reservation and Preservation Act B.E.2535, section 20, 23, and 24, and Customs Act B.E.2469, section 27 by the Royal Thai Police. Chokchoyma was the target of a joint US-Thailand investigation, supported by the FREELAND Foundation and the ASEAN Wildlife Enforcement Network (ASEAN-WEN).