Only last week customs officials in Madagascar confiscated 771 critically endangered Ploughshare tortoises that were being shipped to Malaysia.

Can you begin to imagine how any profit-motivated dealer would buy so many tortoises with the expectation that he/she would be able to import them safely into Malaysia and then sell them without Perhilitan noticing? There was never any question of being arrested in Malaysia - why would he take such a financial and personal risk?

It appears the dealer was certain of getting the tortoises into Malaysia (why else would he splash out so much money on buying them?) but hadn’t factored in the more diligent (honest) officials in Madagascar might intercept the shipment.

It wasn’t long ago when I last wrote about tortoises being smuggled in their hundreds from India.

Customs officials there, thankfully, have been able to intercept some consignments, but no one is under any illusions that illegal shipments still successfully make their way to Malaysia.

The enormity of the scale in the trade of tortoises to, and within Malaysia, cannot possibly be going on for so long unnoticed by pet shops, zoos, customs and of course, Perhilitan. More than one person knows who the key importer and dealer is, not least because zoos and pet shops have been big buyers of tortoises sold illegally. And Perhilitan for certain know who the importers are.

Can they all be suffering from selective blindness all of the time?

The stench coming from the collusion between these people is enough to make any honest person sick.

Doesn’t anyone in authority care?

There has never been in doubt in my mind that illegal wildlife dealers work in cahoots with people in positions of power in Malaysia. Which is why Malaysia remains a known hotspot for this sickening trade.

Perhilitan will by now have been told by their counterparts in Madagascar who the shipment was

destined for in Malaysia. There have been no arrests and this follows the same pattern as has happened with ivory confiscations in the past. No one is ever arrested.

Criminals flourish and prosper when law enforcement officials are either weak, incompetent or corrupt.

Which explains why the wildlife trade in Malaysia remains rampant, doesn’t it?

SEAN WHYTE is CEO, Nature Alert.