The tide is turning in Malawi’s investigation of transnational wildlife trafficking.

Since 2016, Malawi has made significant strides in terms of its ability to investigate and build cases against organized wildlife traffickers, using operational principles similar to those of major organized crime investigation units (e.g. the US Drug Enforcement Administration and China’s Anti-Smuggling Bureau). These advances are illustrated by recent successes. In early May 2019, the Malawi Police Service and the Department of National Parks and Wildlife (DNPW) undertook three separate raids on three properties in and around the capital, Lilongwe, resulting in the arrest of nine Chinese na­tionals and three Malawian citizens.¹ The 12 people arrested were charged with the illegal possession of protected species and their parts: three live pangolins, 556 pangolin scales, 103 pieces of rhino horn (taken from three horns), processed elephant ivory, two hippo teeth, reptiles from multiple protected species and hardwood timber.² They were also charged with possession of unlicensed firearms and explosives.

The crime syndicate targeted in these actions was allegedly run by Yunhua Lin, age 46. Lin has been described as the head of the largest wildlife syndicate in Malawi, one of the most wanted criminals in the country, and the kingpin of a highly organized criminal unit operating across multiple international borders with ample resources and extended networks.³ Lin was also a target of the May raids; he escaped, but was apprehended in August 2019 following an intelligence and surveillance operation.⁴ Lin’s wife, Qin Hua Zhang, and son-in-law, Li Hao Yaun, were among those arrested in May 2019. They were both out on bail at the time, having been arrested in December 2017 at a farm near Lilongwe in possession of 10 pieces of ivory (weighing 21 kg), illicit drugs and crocodile skins.⁵ On 12 November 2019, Qin Hua Zhang, Li Hao Yaun and two Malawian nationals were found guilty in the Lilongwe Magistrates Court of the crimes for which they were arrested in December 2017, and were sentenced to six years in prison.⁶ The 2019 case, which involves Lin, is still being heard in court.

Malawi is a small landlocked country with a high human-population density and relatively small wildlife populations; however, it was until recently known as a major trafficking hub for high-value wildlife products. In 2016, Malawi was identified by CITES as a country of ‘primary concern’ and Southern Africa’s principal transit hub for international trafficking syndicates.⁷ That finding was based on several grounds:

• In 2013, 2.6 tonnes of ivory was seized entering Malawi from Tanzania.⁸
• Malawi has a history of being a regional ivory trade hub and exporter. For example, the largest ivory seizure ever reported to the Elephant Trade Infor­mation System, weighing 6.5 tonnes, was made in Singapore in 2002.⁹ The shipment had originally been exported from Malawi. Although local Asian criminal syndicates were suspected of being involved, none were arrested and prosecuted.
• Although progress has been made in disrupting ivory trafficking through East Africa (see the October 2019 issue of this bulletin),¹⁰ there were concerns that trafficking routes could shift to Malawi.

Figure 3 Map of gold deposits in Zimbabwe, Fidelity Printers and Refineries gold-buying centres, and recent major incidents of violence related to gold mining

Note: The data on ivory and rhino horn seizures in and associated with Malawi tell two main stories. First, the country has clearly long played a role as a major wildlife trafficking hub (as the assessment from CITES reflects), in part due to its proximity to regions with large wildlife populations. However, at the same time, much of the enforcement action takes place in-country by national authorities. This has then led to the changes seen since 2016, where Malawi has strengthened its legal frameworks and improved its capacity to investigate and prosecute cases.
Sources: Mary Utermohlen and Patrick Baine, Flying under the radar: Wildlife trafficking in the air transport sector, ROUTES Partnership, 2017, https://routespartnership.org/industry-resources/publications/flying-under-the-radar-final.pdf/view.

A 2015 analysis of 50 wildlife crime cases revealed that Malawi was being used as a major transit hub for illegal wildlife products, which were being easily imported, processed, packaged, sold and exported.¹¹ Typically, larger shipments were moved in containers to regional ports – including Dar es Salaam, Pemba, Beira, Maputo and Durban – and shipped to Asia. At the same time, Malawi scored poorly in a World Bank measurement of governance and rule of law,¹² suggesting that its ability to address its wildlife crime challenges were limited by corruption and weak institutions.

Malawi’s DNPW took this indictment seriously and led a process to revise and strengthen the law and its imple­mentation. The international oversight role played by CITES seemed to provide the catalyst for urgent and effective action. In a few years, average sentences for wildlife traffickers have changed from a fine of US$40 to prison sentences averaging four years.

However, stronger laws, improved prosecutions and tougher sentencing are only part of the solution. Effective law enforcement against transnational organized crime syndicates requires experienced and well-resourced investigators who are able to guard against corruption – as investigations of major transnational wildlife trafficking networks led by US and Chinese law enforcement agencies in 2019 have shown (see Issue 3 of the Risk Bulletin).¹³ So, what changed in Malawi and how was it done?

According to the director of the DNPW,¹⁴ the key to the successful dismantling of the Lin syndicate in May 2019 and the arrest of Lin in August was threefold. First, focused intelligence and investigation units turned intelligence into law enforcement action. In this case, the Malawi Police Service’s Criminal Intelligence Unit gathered the initial intelligence, built the initial case, undertook surveillance and led the arrests, and the DNPW’s Wildlife Crime Investigations and Intelligence Unit as­sis­­­ted during the raid and arrests. Second, Malawi’s close working relationship with donors and development partners provided the operational resources needed for fieldwork and capacity building. And, third, protocols restricted information-sharing to trusted officers working within the intelligence and investigation units.

Before the May 2019 raids, Lin and his close associates appeared to act with impunity, despite prior arrests. At that stage, no non-African foreign national had ever served time in jail in Malawi for wildlife crime. The three-year process that the DNPW has undertaken to strengthen its laws and its ability to prosecute those laws, with support from key partners, is now paying dividends. Malawi is showing that it has the capacity to undertake a complex investigation into a major organized crime trafficking network and to build the case through to successful prosecution. Its focused, investigations-led, case-building approach, using small, trusted multi-agency units, which are insulated to prevent information leaks, is akin to the approaches employed by Chinese and US organized-crime-fighting units.

The Lin case, and the institutional and organizational capacity-building leading up to it, is a prime example of what can be done to strengthen national law enforcement responses to organized crime and thus to overcome impunity.

Notes