Wildlife criminals are increasingly using Europe’s mail and online retail delivery services to smuggle their contraband. Denise Hruby investigates Prime opportunity: Christmas mail at the International Postal Centre in Frankfurt, Germany. Photo: Denise Hruby Wrapped in plastic bags marked with case numbers, the remains of elephants, bears, mountain lions, polar foxes and crocodiles are neatly stored on grey metal shelves at Frankfurt Airport’s International Postal Centre. “Confiscated” reads a sign in German, in the fenced-in corner of the nondescript warehouse. It’s an unworthy last resting place for some of the world’s most enigmatic animals – or at least the parts of them that have been turned into rugs, decorative statues, jackets and wallets. Under usual circumstances, December isn’t a good time to visit the centre. This is peak season for international mail, the most hectic time of year, when delivery services and logistics companies handle twice the usual volume due to Christmas deliveries. But in between shifts, during a few minutes of peace and quiet when the conveyor belts have been halted and X-ray scanners switched off, Marcus Redanz devotes some time to showing a selection of the wildlife and related products his team has detected in packages bound for German addresses. “If I’m a criminal, then it would make sense to try and smuggle wildlife now,” says the customs inspector. The vast increase in deliveries over the Christmas period represents a prime opportunity for wildlife smugglers, who anticipate fewer interceptions while delivery services, post offices and inspectors such as Redanz are overwhelmed. In the mail: Customs officer Marcus Redanz with statues made of ivory seized by his team at the International Postal Centre in Frankfurt, Germany. Photo: Denise Hruby Criminal networks have turned the trade in protected and endangered species into the world’s fourth-largest black market, worth an estimated US$23-billion each year. It would be a mistake to assume that the trade flows only in one direction, from Africa to Asia. There has been an increase in contraband sent in the mail from Asia to Europe, says Redanz. Last year his team seized a polar fox jacket sent from China, for example, and spiders, lizards and geckos from countries such as Thailand are occasional arrivals. Europe’s roles as trafficking transit hub, source and destination are all more pronounced than is generally acknowledged. In 2016, the European Union accepted that it “has an important role to play in tackling this traffic” and that “lack of awareness and political engagement are also major obstacles to combating trafficking effectively.” Law enforcement and customs agents across the world have ramped up their efforts to combat the trade, but sophisticated smuggling syndicates are taking advantage of the international shipping industry, which is at its most stretched during the Christmas rush. In the weeks before and after December 25, the number of parcels passing through airports such as Frankfurt more than doubles, figures from several mail services show. Redanz and his team detected 5,550 individual trafficked animals and plants in 2017. Photo: Denise Hruby Wedged between a shiny glass Deutsche Post building and the passenger arrival and departure halls, the International Postal Centre is the largest in Germany and among the largest in Europe. Redanz estimates that, on an average day, he and his 90 colleagues inspect 10,000 to 12,000 parcels, in the process enforcing duties and taxes that add in to the €6-billion the central Frankfurt customs office takes in a year. In 2017 his team detected 5,550 individual trafficked animals and plants, as well as products made of or containing parts, concealed in international deliveries. Deutsche Post planned to hire an additional 10,000 seasonal workers in 2018 to handle the increase in Christmas deliveries, most of them due to e-commerce, while the country’s private delivery service DPDgroup deployed an additional 12,000 trucks. “If you see what’s going on in the international parcel industry today, and how it has grown, it’s just enormous,” said Harold Gerretsen, an inspector with the Nederlandse Voedsel-en Warenautoriteit, the Dutch food and consumer product safety authority, which is responsible for detecting violations of CITES, the international treaty to protect endangered species, and works closely with Dutch customs. Schiphol airport, in Amsterdam, and the port of Rotterdam, Europe’s largest, have been identified as hot spots for wildlife trafficking by the European Parliament. “Everything is ordered online now, and especially with Christmas, it’s even more. There must be so many parcels that slip through without anyone noticing,” said Gerretsen.