Anoectochilus roxburghii is planted in Xinjiang. [Photo/zjol.com.cn]
Forestry police in Zhuji, East China's Zhejiang province, were recently recognized with first class merit awards for capturing a suspect who was selling lion meat and was involved in a large wildlife trafficking network. Their work was part of the effort that nabbed 88 suspects nationwide.
On July 17, 2015, local police received a tip-off and seized a car in the Zhuji section of the provincial highway that was loaded with frozen and skinned animal body parts in its trunk.
Lion meat, which was to be sold to a client from Zhuji to make medicinal liquor, was found. The 41-year-old driver from Pan'an, Zhejiang, surnamed Chen, confessed.
Police learned Chen hid rare wild animals in his three-story game store, including two giant salamanders in the bathroom and a leopard in a cage on the first floor, as well as two monitor lizards in the basement he dug.
A team of six local forestry police officers was organized to investigate the case.
Chen was the middleman of a wildlife trafficking network that bought wild animals from the suppliers — mainly from Guangdong, Hunan, Jiangxi, Fujian and Zhejiang provinces, as well as Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, and sold them to clients, mainly in Zhejiang and Jiangxi provinces, and Shanghai.
