Julian Rademeyer's Blog
September 28, 2017
Diplomats and Deceit – North Korea’s Criminal Activities in Africa
A new report written for The Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime by Julian Rademeyer, the author of Killing for Profit, lifts the lid on state-sanctioned North Korean criminal activity in Africa, exposing diplomats and embassies linked to illicit trade in rhino horn, ivory, cigarettes and minerals. Research conducted by the Global Initiative has linked North Korean […]
September 17, 2017
Organised criminal gangs behind rhino horn processing in South Africa
A TRAFFIC report has revealed disturbing new evidence that some criminal networks of Chinese origin operating in South Africa are now processing rhino horn locally into beads, bracelets, bangles and powder to evade detection and provide ready-made products to consumers in Asia, mainly in Viet Nam and China. The report, Pendants, Powder and Pathways—A rapid assessment […]
November 12, 2016
The State Security boss and the rhino horn trafficker
By Julian Rademeyer State Security Minister David Mahlobo has allegedly been hanging out with a Chinese organised crime figure who traffics rhino horns and openly brags about bribing South African justice and immigration officials. These claims are contained in a new documentary by Al Jazeera Investigates, which also draws on research I conducted for the […]
July 26, 2016
The crooks behind rhino slaughter
By Julian Rademeyer, Financial Mail Rifle in hand, a Vietnamese man with shoulder-length hair squats next to the carcass of a rhino. It’s a photograph taken in late 2006 on a game farm in Limpopo — “the first legal hunt of a rhino by a Vietnamese national” recorded in that province. The man in the […]
July 25, 2016
Fighting to hack apart poaching networks
By Yvonne Fontyn, Business Day Julian Rademeyer is one of the most authoritative voices on the seemingly irresolvable problem of the illegal trade in rhino horn. But the former Sunday Times journalist, now working as a senior research fellow at the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime, says he became involved in this area of […]
July 13, 2016
Dodgy diplomats, poachers, spies and the illicit rhino horn trade
More than six thousand rhinos have fallen to poachers’ bullets in Africa over the past decade and only about 25,000 remain – a fraction of the tens of thousands that roamed parts of the continent fifty years ago. Dozens more have been shot in so-called “pseudo-hunts”. Across Europe, castles and museums have been raided by […]
July 10, 2016
Tipping Point: Organised crime and the ‘war’ on poaching
More than six thousand rhinos have fallen to poachers’ bullets in Africa over the past decade. Driven by insatiable demand in Southeast Asia and China, rhino horn has become a black market commodity rivalling gold and platinum in value. In two reports for the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime, Julian Rademeyer – author of […]
December 27, 2015
North Korea’s diplomats smuggled rhino horn
By Julian Rademeyer Pretoria – A high-ranking North Korean diplomat accused of abusing his diplomatic immunity and his embassy’s diplomatic bag to smuggle rhino horn out of South Africa has been expelled from the country. News24 has learnt that Park Chol-jun – also identified in some news reports as Pak Chol Chun – quietly left […]
North Korea, rhino horn and dodgy diplomats
By Julian Rademeyer Pretoria – A high-ranking North Korean diplomat accused of abusing his diplomatic immunity and his embassy’s diplomatic bag to smuggle rhino horn out of South Africa has been expelled from the country. News24 has learnt that Park Chol-jun – also identified in some news reports as Pak Chol Chun – quietly left […]
