Do dope-smugglers also peddle ivory?

WHEN a middle-aged Kenyan called Feisal Mohamed Ali was found guilty in July 2016 of possessing more than two tonnes of ivory and sentenced to 20 years in jail, conservationists welcomed the verdict as a victory for elephant protection. An “ivory kingpin” had received his comeuppance, dealing a powerful blow to those behind a scourge that threatens the survival of Africa’s elephants.

Yet wildlife and drugs investigators in Kenya and America believe that Ali may not be the kingpin of an ivory smuggling gang but merely a lieutenant in a larger, well-established criminal organisation that is smuggling drugs as well as ivory and rhino horn. That these two sorts of criminality may be run by the same organisations is significant. It not only suggests that an illicit trade in heroin from South Asia that goes through east Africa and then onto the rich world is contributing to environmental harm along the way. It also suggests that rich-country police forces, which half-heartedly investigate the illegal trade in animal products because it they see it as a remote problem, might become more interested in tackling it...