Thai police seize 14 elephants with fake IDs
8/21/2013BANGKOK — Police in Thailand have seized 14 elephants in raids after busting a gang that allegedly provided the animals with false identification papers.
Natural Resources and Environmental Crime Suppression chief Police Maj. Gen. Norasak Hemnithi says 14 unregistered or illegally registered elephants were taken today in simultaneous raids on tourist destinations in three southern provinces.
He says the operation followed the discovery of identification certificates issued for elephants that were not residing in their registered locations and believed illegally held because they were either smuggled from neighboring Myanmar or taken from the wild.