Illegal Trade in Timber, Skinsand Other Goods Worth Billions, Group Says

The vast illegal trade in rainforest timber, animal skins, ivory, and banned gas refrigerants is generating tens of billions of dollars in profits annually for international cartels, according to the nonprofit Environmental Investigation Agency. In a report, the London-based group identifies several of the major players in these illicit enterprises that can generate profits in excess of 700 percent. These include Indonesian businessman Abdul Rasyid, whom Indonesian officials say is involved in selling illegally logged hardwoods from national parks; Sansar Chand, an Indian whom government investigators say has sold more than 12,000 animal skins — including 400 tiger and 2,000 leopard skins — to Nepal-based traders for the Chinese market; and Zambian Benson Nkunika, who has admitted poaching 38 elephants from the country’s most famous national park for the ivory trade. International criminals also are making large sums of money smuggling banned refrigerants and aerosols, such as hydrochlorofluorocarbons, the Environmental Investigation Agency said.