Livestock carriers being used by smugglers, say NGOs
“Maritime livestock vessels are the Pandora’s box of international smuggling,” says Charlotte Nithart, director of French NGO, Robin des Bois.
A French NGO has told the Guardian newspaper that livestock transporters are being increasingly being used by international gangs to smuggle drugs, arms and even people.
Charlotte Nithart of Robin des Bois said livestock ships are “unrivalled” as a means of “illegally transporting dubious goods, such as narcotics, weapons, counterfeit goods and wildlife by-products”.
The advantage they pose to smugglers, she said, was the off-putting logistics of where and how to impound the ships and their cargos, the huge size of the vessels, and the difficulty and unpleasant nature of searching pens filled with live animals and strong smells.
