The taskforce sets off from a military base on Colombia's main river at 2am. The operation has all the hallmarks of a drug raid - it is led by armed police and naval officers and is the culmination of two years of intelligence-gathering in the capital, Bogotá.
Today's contraband, however, is not white powder but the spectacled caiman - the smaller, bulbous-eyed relative of the alligator that is endemic to the wetlands and rivers of South America. Hoping to catch the suspects while they are still at home, the police navigate a boat down the Magdalena River in total darkness, except for the green hues of fireflies.
"We've busted the people who buy from them in smaller quantities: 10, 20, or 50," said Cristian Mesa, yawning from the exhaustion of a second consecutive night raid. "But we've never got the main collection point up river. There are hundreds [of caiman] where we are going."
From outside, the nondescript house targeted by Mesa's team in the small, isolated town of Sucre looks like any other. But, after showing their warrants and forcing their way through the front door, the team find a damp pit at the back used as an improvised caiman pool.
Inside the pit are more than 200 of the reptiles poached from local rivers. They huddle in the corners in a heap, making high-pitch squeaks. The largest caiman is a metre long but most are babies. "The younger the better, as the leather will be more supple and thus more valuable when they skin and export them," said one of the officers, inspecting the huddle.
この記事は The Guardian Weekly の October 06, 2023 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、8,500 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です ? サインイン
この記事は The Guardian Weekly の October 06, 2023 版に掲載されています。
7 日間の Magzter GOLD 無料トライアルを開始して、何千もの厳選されたプレミアム ストーリー、8,500 以上の雑誌や新聞にアクセスしてください。
すでに購読者です? サインイン
Moving Back To Moscow: How Dream Of Freedom Unravelled
The army of riot police had finally retreated from Tbilisi's Rustaveli Avenue, the broad thoroughfare in front of the parliament building, back into the barricaded parliamentary estate.
News Of Raisi's Death Met With Fireworks And Few Tears
Activists in Iran have said there is little mood to mourn the death of the president, Ebrahim Raisi, who was killed in a helicopter crash near the border with Azerbaijan on Sunday.
Red Flag? Alito Scandal Casts Doubt On Supreme Court Impartiality
With less than six months to go before America chooses its next president, the US supreme court finds itself in an unenviable position: not only has it been drawn into a volatile election, but swirling ethical scandals have cast doubt on its impartiality.
Infected blood Final report vindicates the families still awaiting justice
\"We have been gaslit for generations,\" was the reaction of Andy Evans, chair of the campaign group Tainted Blood, in response to the final report into the contaminated blood scandal, which was published on Monday.
The race to evacuate Vovchansk's remaining residents
Rescue operations ever more dangerous as fighting reaches Kharkiv townat the centre of Russia’s latest offensive
Alice Munro 1931 -2024
The Nobel prize winner whose masterly accounts of ordinary lives in smalltown Canada elevated the short story into the highest form of literature
Creativity takes root
From Nikide Saint Phalle's Tuscan Tarot Garden to Barbara Hepworth's coastal oasis, artists’ green spaces are about somuch more than plants
Tory war on overseas students is all about saving their own skins
A key turning point in British politics was Tony Blair's famous priorities: \"education, education, education\".
Catalans once longed for freedom, but it doesn't look so appealing now
For the first time since 1980, parties opposing Catalonia's independence from Spain have the support of a majority of voters in the region.
I believe that Ricky's law has saved lives, it has changed lives, restored families'
Ricky Klausmeyer-Garcia’s friends struggled to get him addiction treatment, leading to the creation of alawin his name. Buta year after his death, profound questions remain about how best to help those with substance use disorder in the US.