JOINT OPERATION SNARES POACHERS

A multinational operation in which China played a leading role resulted in the arrests of hundreds of wildlife poachers and was of global significance for the intelligence it gathered, experts say.The operation, Cobra II, involved 28 countries from Asia, Africa and North America and sent a powerful message to poachers and smugglers, a US official said. More than 400 suspects were arrested and tons of products were seized in the month-long operation that sent poachers a clear signal of China's zero-tolerance policy toward traffickers, says Wan Ziming, director of the Law Enforcement Department of the China Endangered Species Import and Export Management Office.

(China Daily Africa Weekly 02/14/2014 page31)