cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/57238968

• Illegal wildlife trade, primarily catering to Chinese nationals, is thriving in Cambodia, according to a new undercover investigation (pdf) by Earth League International, a U.S.-based NGO fighting environmental crime.
• Investigators identified five kingpins allegedly running transnational criminal networks in Cambodia that are involved in wildlife smuggling, human and drug trafficking and operate scam centers that defraud targets of money. ELI also mapped trade networks and gathered information on what species are sold and who buys them.
• The report found many endangered animals and their parts, including tigers, elephants, rhinos and pangolins, openly sold mostly to high-ranking government officials, Chinese expats, wealthy businessmen and Chinese tourists.
• The report urges China to act against Chinese scam center owners and corrupt officials who facilitate illegal activity and wildlife trade, along with reducing demand for endangered species within its borders.

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The yearlong investigation revealed a huge demand for wildlife products within Cambodia, fueled by wealthy Chinese and Cambodian buyers.

“It’s a trafficking enterprise, and a good example of what happens when you don’t do anything … they grow and grow and grow, and at the end, the damage is substantial,” said Andrea Crosta, executive director of ELI. “The big surprise was the incredible quantity of wildlife in the hands of these people.”

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“I think it’s an excellent piece of work,” said Debbie Banks. She serves as the tiger and wildlife crime campaign lead at the U.K.-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), which also investigates wildlife crimes in Southeast Asia. Banks was not involved in this operation, but EIA has previously uncovered illegal commerce in tiger parts in Laos and Vietnam in operations that also targeted Chinese nationals.

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Investigators say they identified five cartel kingpins operating in Cambodia who allegedly run transnational criminal networks that smuggle wildlife from across the world.

ELI reported that all are of Chinese descent and are well connected within Cambodia. Two of them are believed to be the biggest wildlife traders in the lower Mekong region. The public report leaves them nameless; another version handed over to U.S. authorities identified all involved.

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“Wildlife trafficking in Southeast Asia is in the hands of Chinese nationals by 90%,” Crosta said. He added that they have strong business ties in the region, with investments in real estate and a mix of legal and illegal businesses that include restaurants and clubs as well as scam centers. They are “very, very prolific” wildlife traffickers, Crosta said.

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One individual said he raised lions, tigers and primates on his properties — and allegedly trafficked primates, birds and bear parts, according to the investigation. Another said he smuggled wildlife products and narcotics to the West. Yet another said his role was logistics, claiming he could help traffic anything because he had close connections to Cambodian customs officials as well as the country’s political, military and business elites.

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Meanwhile, the kingpins reportedly said they could supply any species that customers wanted: tigers, elephants, rhinos, pangolins, sea turtles, coral, bears, primates and birds of prey — either alive, dead or in parts.

They said they had suppliers across the globe, in Africa, Europe, Russia and South Asia.

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The report found a thriving trade in tigers and their parts in Cambodia. It identified the two traffickers as the major suppliers, selling bones and full skeletons to make tiger wine and offering tiger meat to exclusive restaurants in the capital, Phnom Penh, that are frequented by high-ranking Cambodian government officials and wealthy Chinese businessmen.

However, these elite dining establishments didn’t just serve tiger meat and wine, the investigation found. They offered pangolin, cobra, red panda and golden pheasant, among other wildlife dishes, with pictures of these animals displayed on the menu.

Tiger cubs, too, were offered as a delicacy. A promotional video for a holiday menu advertised cubs alongside other wildlife. The cubs were also used to make wine.

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ELI reported that pangolin meat sold for about $120 per kilogram ($54.50 per pound) — and the customer could keep the scales, which are prized in traditional medicine as a purported treatment for numerous illnesses.

Tiger bones sold for up to $1,975 per kg ($897 per lb) and tiger penis went for about $2,633 per kg ($1,197 per lb). The report stated that Chinese embassy officials in Cambodia were major consumers of tiger penis wine, which sold for $1,200 a bottle in 2025.

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Report casts shadow on Cambodia’s plan to reintroduce wild tigers

Cambodia is also in talks with India to bring Bengal tigers for a proposed plan to reintroduce them in the Cardamom Mountains. The last official sighting of a wild tiger in Cambodia was in 2007, and they were declared “functionally extinct” there a decade ago. Banks said she’s worried how those tigers, if they were brought into the country, would fare.

“I would urge everyone to take a beat and really review the prospects for success in that endeavor,” Banks said. “The lack of enforcement, the reported corruption and complicity — that is not a good environment to put tigers back into the country. They’ll be at extreme risk, and I think all those involved in seeking the return of tigers into the wild in Cambodia should be holding the government to account to respond and demonstrate effective enforcement.”

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China is a top destination for most wildlife products in Cambodia

Traffickers often smuggle wildlife contraband along circuitous routes. “These products originate in the range states of species such as rhinos. They may then be smuggled through countries with weaker governance or enforcement; moved by air or sea transport companies that may or may not know what they are carrying; passed through additional criminal or commercial nodes; and eventually sold to end users in consumer markets,” said Gray with the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime.

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China is one of the world’s largest consumers of wildlife products, and Asia is a growing hub of trade.

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Most tourists coming from China to Cambodia are government officials and state-owned company employees, the current report found.

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