Treacherous Links

The blood-stained trade that connects terrorism, armed conflict, narcotics and human rights violations.

- Nicole Benjamin-Fink

From Al-Qaeda, to Boko Haram, to ISIS, and beyond, what interlinks the twin towers in New York city, coffee shops in Sydney, nightclubs in Paris and Orlando, airports in Istanbul, girls’ schools in Nigeria, and restaurants in Israel and Syria?

These have been ‘success’ stories of terrorist attacks.

Terrorist groups require manpower and resources; have you ever wondered about the source of these renewable resources? There is a global revolving door between the operative networks involved in the illegal trade of wildlife, arms, narcotics, and human trafficking. Terrorism utilises endangered animals as trade commodities for promoting violence and fear with the ultimate goal of eliminating entire cultures. But first, let me share with you the road that led me to seek to disentangle this linkage. I spent four months collecting data to quantify the impact of various wildlife management policies on the probability of hybridisation between black and blue wildebeests in South Africa. During this time, I extracted DNA samples by biodarting animals from a low-flying two seater helicopter or the top of a baki. Because of the extreme South African heat, handling of wildlife is permitted only during the early hours of the day. Luckily, I was able to consume large amounts of coffee. At the end of a fortnight-long expedition, my research assistant, Theo, and I headed back with our samples to the genetics lab. As we left the private ranch in Mpumalanga, he asked me if I was interested in seeing “something”. I was keen.