Пернатые хищники и их охрана (May 2018)
Contraband of Falcons
Abstract
In October 2015 the falcons smuggling channel was stopped near Moscow. In November 2015 at the Vnukovo airport (Moscow), two natives of Syria were detained with the mainour during the transportation of 8 Gyrfalcons (Falco rusticolus) and four thousand dollars to the customs officer. A Russian citizen was detained in Kamchatka. On 10.12.2015 she illegally transported one Gyrfalcon (Falco rusticolus) in the luggage compartment of a helicopter. At the checkpoint of the military airport in Elizovo (the Kamchatka Kray) two bags with eight Gyrfalcons (Falco rusticolus) were found during the operational procedures and their carrier was detained – in January 2016 a criminal case was initiated under Part 1 Art. 258.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. On August 2, 2016, four citizens of Kazakhstan were detained in the territory of the Kyzylorda region (Kazakhstan) 150 km from the Aral. On March 27, 2017 on the territory of the Tashkent region, 19 Saker Falcons (Falco cherrug) were released into the natural habitat, according to the information service of the Uzbekistan State Environmental Committee. On August 16, 2016 in the Aktyubinsk region (Kazakhstan) two residents of the South-Kazakhstan region were detained. One Saker Falcon (Falco cherrug) was found in the cabin of their car. In the last week of August 2016, as a result of co-operative activities of inspectors of the State nature reserve “Khakassky” with the State Committee for Wildlife and Environment Protection of the Republic of Khakassia, three cases were initiated on administrative offenses under the Art. 8.35 of the Administrative Code of the Russian Federation “Destruction of rare and endangered species of animals or plants listed in the Red Data Book of the Russian Federation”. On September 13, 2016 customs officers at Domodedovo airport (Moscow) detained persons who tried to take out 30 falcons with forged declaration to the United Arab Emirates. On September 26, 2016 in Chukotka, officers of the city border service made a place for keeping two illegally captured Gyrfalcons (Falco rusticolus). In autumn 2016, an organized criminal group (OCG) engaged in catching of Gyrfalcons (Falco rusticolus) was detected in Kamchatka. On October 14, 2016 in Bishkek (Kyrgyzstan), the border guards of the Manas-Airport checkpoint together with the officers of the Anti-Corruption Service of the State Committee for National Security of the Kyrgyz Republic detained two UAE citizens at attempt of illegal transportation of 4 Saker Falcons (Falco cherrug) from Kyrgyzstan. On October 16, 2016 at the “Borispol” airport (Kiev, Ukraine), border guards detained two citizens of Ukraine, trying to take out 8 falcons. On October 17, 2016 in the Daursky Reserve in the Trans-Baikal Kray, Syrians that were hunting Saker Falcons (Falco cherrug) were detained. In October 2016, officers of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Federal Security Service of Buryatia detected an organized criminal group that captured and transported falcons to the Arab countries. On November 16, 2016 at the Capital international airport, Kazakhstan border guards of the border control detachment “Astana” stopped the attempt of 32 falcons smuggling into the UAE. During a joint special raid, 7 Gyrfalcons (Falco rusticolus) as well as other illegally obtained biological resources such as 90 bear paws and 2 tons of red caviar were detected in a non-residential building in the village Ossora, Karaginsky district, the Kamchatka Kray. On November 22, 2016 at the airport “Borispol” (Kiev, Ukraine) officers of the State Border Service, Customs and Aviation Security Services detected 4 falcons, which the Ukraine citizen planned to transport to Lebanon. In November – December 2016 in Omsk, an organized criminal group that transported falcons to abroad was neutralized. On January 6, 2017 at the airport of Almaty (Kazakhstan), criminal police officers of the Line Internal Affairs Department detained a passenger, a citizen of the Republic of Kazakhstan, who was trying to transport 4 Saker Falcons (Falco cherrug) to Sharjah. On January 17, 2017 in the town of Elizovo in the Kamchatka Kray, police investigators of the Federal Security Service of Russia detained a citizen of Armenia with a Gyrfalcon (Falco rusticolus) of a rare light color. On August 26, 2017 in the Alakolsky district of the Almaty region (Kazakhstan), local hunting sector officers and policemen detained two men with traps for illegal catching of falcons. On August 28, 2017 Police of Kazakhstan detained a resident of Astana, who was trying to sell a falcon for 1.5 million tenge. On October 12, 2017 on the border of the South Kazakhstan and Zhambyl regions (Kazakhstan), four citizens of the United Arab Emirates and two locals were detained for illegal hunting. On October 19, 2017 at the international airport “Borispol” (Kiev, Ukraine), a citizen of Ukraine was detained at attempt of taking out 3 falcons to the UAE. On October 21, 2017, Mohamed Al-Shamery, the resident of North Ossetia, the owner and director of the falcon breeding nursery “Filin”, was detained at the border customs checkpoint “Verkhny Lars” (Republic of North Ossetia, Russia). On October 24, 2017 at the Almaty airport, Kazakhstani border guards detained two citizens of Qatar for transportation of 29 Saker Falcons (Falco cherrug) without support documentation. In October 2017 in Kamchatka, another organized criminal group of Gyrfalcons (Falco rusticolus) catchers was found. In the end of October 2017 at the international airport “Borispol” (Kiev, Ukraine), while processing the documents for the flight to the UAE, border guards found three falcons, which a citizen of Ukraine tried to take out from Ukraine. On November 13, 2017 in Ust-Bolsheretsky District of the Kamchatka Kray, officers of the Border Directorate of the Federal Security Service of Russia and the local police detained an unemployed resident of the Ust-Bolsheretsk village for catching Gyrfalcons (Falco rusticolus). On December 5, 2017 Kazakhstan border guards stopped the transportation of 14 falcons with damaged identification rings from Kazakhstan to Qatar.
