Police repatriate Chinese fugitive wanted over African rosewood smuggling

The Nigerian police force has repatriated a Chinese national, Zhang Shijie, who is wanted in China for allegedly smuggling about 1,400 tonnes of endangered African rosewood.

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Mr Zhang was arrested in Ogun State and handed over to Chinese authorities after the police established that the Yangpu Sub-Bureau of the Anti-Smuggling Bureau of Haikou Customs District, China, wanted him.

The Force Public Relations Officer, Ani Iniedu, disclosed this in a statement on Thursday, saying Mr Zhang was arrested on 10 September in the Ogere area of Ogun State and repatriated to Guangzhou on 16 September.

According to Mr Iniedu, the Chinese national was wanted over alleged large-scale smuggling of Pterocarpus erinaceus, commonly known as African rosewood, an endangered tree species indigenous to West Africa.

An arrest warrant was issued in China against Mr Zhang on 7 January 2021 for the alleged smuggling of the consignment, valued at about 15.7 million Chinese Yuan.

The alleged offences were committed between November 2020 and January 2021, after which Mr Zhang remained outside China.

The police said intelligence later established that he was living in Ogun State and that his Chinese passport had expired on 11 November 2023.

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Mr Iniedu said the arrest followed sustained intelligence gathering, surveillance, and coordination by operatives of the INTERPOL National Central Bureau (NCB) in Abuja.

He said Mr Zhang’s repatriation was carried out in furtherance of bilateral police cooperation between Nigeria and China.

The Inspector-General of Police, Olatunji Disu, said the police would continue to use INTERPOL tools and international cooperation to track fugitives, combat transnational organised crime, and prevent Nigeria from becoming a haven for people wanted for criminal offences in other countries.

The police statement comes amid longstanding concerns over the involvement of foreign nationals in illegal mining and environmental offences in Nigeria.

PREMIUM TIMES earlier reported on 4 May 2020, that the Osun State Government arrested 27 suspected illegal miners, including 17 Chinese nationals and 10 locals, in the Ilesa and Ife axes of the state.

The arrests were carried out by the Osun State Security Taskforce, Amotekun, during enforcement operations against illegal mining.

The newspaper reported at the time that the arrests came about five months after a PREMIUM TIMES investigation exposed how illegal miners driven out of Zamfara State had moved their operations to Osun, where many were working for Chinese firms.

The 2020 report quoted Abdullahi Binuyo, then deputy chief of staff to the Osun State Governor, as saying the suspects did not have genuine mining licences or registration that authorised them to conduct mining activities.

READ ALSO: Nigeria police repatriate Chinese fugitive over $245m ponzi scheme

Mr Binuyo also said the miners had polluted the Osun River with toxic metals, posing risks to people who depended on the river for drinking water and irrigation.

He said the government would prosecute those arrested and seek compensation for the damage caused by their activities.

The latest case involves an alleged international smuggling operation involving an endangered tree species rather than illegal mining. It nevertheless highlights the cross-border dimension of environmental crimes and the role of international law-enforcement cooperation in tracking suspects who leave the country where an alleged offence occurred.

The police said they would continue to work with INTERPOL and other international law enforcement agencies to disrupt transnational criminal networks and bring fugitives within the reach of justice.