The Ivory Game (2016) Movie Script
1
Shetani-- "the Devil"-- has taken over,
taken over the guns,
taken over the syndicates.
So he has become so powerful.
He's the most notorious killer
of elephants in this country ever known.
We have intelligence that Shetani
and his poaching syndicates
are in this village.
Open up. Police.
Where is Shetani?
-Where is he?
-Show us where your gun is.
Where is Shetani? Tell me!
Why aren't you giving him up?
You, get ready to shoot him.
Shetani employs
these men to kill elephants.
So, we must get Shetani,
at any cost, at any risk.
This is it.
It is an elephant-killing gun.
I was just given this gun.
This man is an elephant tusk carrier.
Shetani became too clever.
We were trying to lay traps.
Before we laid our hands on him,
he disappeared.
Delta Uniform from Charlie One.
Have you seen One Ton?
I saw another group,
but One Ton wasn't there.
Thanks.
Okay, so, they still haven't seen One Ton,
and they've done a full circle
around the area where he was.
He's the biggest elephant
we've got left.
We lost one of his colleagues
earlier in the year.
He died just about 500 meters
down that way
after a poison arrow.
Every elephant
is at risk at the moment,
even the female and calves
with only a couple of kilos.
A poacher will still make a bit of money
for that for his effort.
Every time something bad happens,
you're losing much, much more
than just an individual animal,
because elephants
have an amazing memory,
and they can live 60, 70 years,
and the passing down
of knowledge and experience
is something
that is amazing to witness.
Calves learn everything they do
from their mothers,
and they're much more connected
to each other
than even humans are these days.
This is One Ton.
And it's good news,
because he's just been up into the hills
and down the other side into an area
which is quite dangerous.
He's made a little friend.
I'm not sure how they met,
but they're oddly attached.
He's really relaxed,
but the little one can get quite fierce.
So we've just got to be
a little bit careful with him.
One Ton's left tusk
is probably two meters long.
He's got at least 70,
80 kilos of ivory on him.
You're talking top 20
in the world, probably.
I've heard stories about elephants
hiding their tusks,
but I've seen him do it once.
Specifically, when they know
humans are watching them,
they hide their tusks because they know
their tusks are valuable.
They're definitely intelligent enough
to figure it out.
Any poacher would risk his life happily
to get an animal like this.
My officers
will search on this side of the hill.
I will look with the Land Cruiser.
If they find any tracks or a carcass,
we will decide how to respond.
About seven o'clock this evening,
ten shots were heard
by a mobile unit.
We don't know what's happened yet.
It's pitch black,
so we're trying to find the scene.
It's gonna be really tough.
No matter how many men we have,
no matter how many guns we have,
every time that happens, you just feel
like you're fighting against--
fighting against an avalanche
that there's no way you can stop.
So, we don't really know
if there is a carcass.
They might still be here, which is why
it's still pretty dangerous in there.
The poacher's prepared
to shoot at you,
and you have to be prepared
to shoot back.
If you don't realize that,
then you need to go somewhere else.
Let's follow it up the road.
But it was two people.
Yes, they were two people.
We still
don't really know what happened,
so we're bringing in air support
to provide us GPS coordinates
to send teams in straight away,
but the thickness of the bush
and the size of the area
means it can take weeks
to find the carcass.
Elephants cannot protect themselves
against a concentrated effort
to poach them.
No matter what they do,
firearms and poachers
will win every time.
So, everything we do
is aimed at helping
those elephants fight back.
But the reality is, at the moment,
we're everything they've got.
And without us, they're dying
all over the continent.
This little statue, it's about $10,000.
And this beautiful sword here,
this is $200,000.
And this tusk here, painted,
is a bit less-- 170, 180.
She told me the price
is already been 20 per cent higher than--
than the former years.
Can you ask her
how heavy is the weight?
-More than 15 kilos.
-Fifteen kilos. Yeah, okay.
So, this piece is around $330,000.
I saw many dead elephants
in my life, unfortunately.
The first one was a little elephant
called Zambezi.
He was hacked.
I had literally tears in my eyes.
And from that moment,
I basically devoted my life
to try to make a difference.
The reason why thousands
and thousands of elephants
are slaughtered every year
is because we have
a legal market in China.
The problem
is that the legal market can rely
only on the small quantity of ivory
that the Chinese government distributes
every year.
It's about five tons.
It's not enough, five tons.
The demand is much higher.
So, they actually have to work
illegal ivory.
Imagine to have, in Europe,
a legal market for cocaine or heroin.
It would be really easy to launder cocaine
and sell it as legal.
When you find, in a shop, cocaine,
it is legal or illegal.
With ivory,
it's happening exactly the same.
You have a legal market
for something that is basically illegal
all over the world.
We are talking
about hundreds of tons of ivory
getting into mainland China every year.
Ivory trafficking
is a serious business.
There are powerful individuals
that are making a lot of money,
and they are able to control
politicians, security officers,
so you don't easily go to police
to report a crime.
It's extremely dangerous.
You risk your life.
You cannot trust anyone.
That's why we set up WildLeaks,
the first initiative in the world
dedicated to wildlife crime
whistleblowers.
I'm launching the Tor browser.
It was uploaded yesterday.
We don't know where it's from yet.
All right.
-Okay, you see it?
-One sec.
What is this?
There's no message, there's--
there's just this video.
Like, it's a pile of ivory.
Wow.
There is a gigantic tusk. Unbelievable.
We received a submission
through the Tor platform.
So, completely anonymous.
Tor is a technology developed
by the U.S. Navy,
so it's impossible to trace back
your connection to us.
I see some--
some numbers and--
R149039.
They obviously
have access to some stuff.
Can you share this video with a couple
of our most trusted collaborators?
-You know who.
-Okay.
They might help us to check
all these numbers
and all these written parts
on the tusks.
We'll get on it right now.
Okay, I'll call you tomorrow
at this time.
-All right, bye.
-Okay. Bye, Mike.
Elephants are pretty amazing, really.
They have feelings like a human.
And their reactions
to the deaths of other elephants
shows clearly that the feelings
they have for one another
goes far beyond our understanding.
Elephants revisit scenes
of where another elephant's died.
They can feel the bones,
they smell the ivory
if it's still there.
They've been known to go
and collect tusks
that have been taken away
from a carcass
and return them back
to the same carcass,
and there's clearly a lot more going on
in an elephant's brain
than anyone's ever realized.
I'm--
You can see how close together
they all are.
The poachers must've had
a real set-up ambush.
Whether the elephants
sensed danger before they--
before the poachers started shooting,
we won't know.
But as soon as they did,
they would've all clustered together to--
just to protect the babies.
You know, we found
more than ten cartridges here.
Who knows how many they picked up.
The poachers from southern Tanzania
now seem to be spreading out a bit.
This gang, we know there were
three Kenyans, four Tanzanians.
So, very professional,
knew exactly what they were doing.
Horrible thing to think, a whole family
all clustered together, and...
he probably wasn't even aiming.
She would've been the first to go down,
whereas that one...
obviously got wounded a little bit
and managed to run 20 or so meters.
Not far enough, though.
Traders in ivory
actually want extinction of elephants,
and that is probably
the biggest danger.
The less elephants there are,
the more the price rises.
The more the price rises,
the more people want to kill them.
And this is an ever-ongoing circle
that is just gonna end up
bringing about exactly what they want:
Extinction.
I've just sent you a message.
Yeah, this is a very important informer,
because he's going to assist us
to get to the culprits
for the Tsavo killing at the border
between Kenya and Tanzania
in Manyara, all right?
Okay.
Of course, the biggest one
that we are seriously looking for
is Boniface Mariango, alias Shetani.
His actual photograph we haven't got,
but his physical appearance
we can describe.
We are running more than
six informants now, working on him,
for every movement he makes.
The nickname "Shetani" means "the devil,"
and he's not easy to--
The name is derived from his cruelty,
particularly.
One collection from him can range
between 500 kilograms
to 1,000, 2,000,
up to 3,000 kilos of ivory.
He's the number-one wanted poacher
right now,
responsible for more than 10,000 elephants
as a single man.
He is Maasai by tribe, a Christian,
64 years.
He is living at Makame, Kiteto.
64 years old.
He can still carry a gun
and kill an elephant.
Jesus Christ.
Each tusk here weighs 15 kilograms.
This suggests
that this was a very big elephant.
If it was a "she,"
she was still productive.
We must have lost several elephant babies
by the killing of this elephant.
It's a loss to our country.
How many shillings did you get for it?
-250 USD.
-Per kilo?
No, for everything.
That's about $7.
Seven dollars a kilo.
In China, this would fetch $3,000 a kilo.
So, this old man, with all these hardships
he's facing in the bush,
and the life he's risking in the bush,
when he sells these products to Shetani
in his luxurious house in Dar es Salaam,
where he has a posh house,
he's getting only six per cent,
while Shetani goes away with 94 per cent.
If he continues this business,
there's no chance for the sons
and daughters,
or his grandsons and granddaughters,
to find an elephant in this country.
They can only hear of an elephant
in the history books
and see elephants in pictures.
We had over 100,000 elephants,
only to come down to less than 50,000
within five years.
We cannot sit down
and look at this happening.
It pains me a lot
to see these greedy men
who just want to get easy money
by merely killing, ruthlessly,
these animals.
Pains me a lot.
In the past, it's always,
like, white people are the good guys,
the local black people
are the bad guys,
and the Chinese people
are the extremely bad guys.
And I think it would be different
if this time
we could have some Chinese
actually being the good guys
in this ivory war.
Since I was very small, I always have
a strong passion for animals,
because every time,
on my way to the primary school,
we would pass a market
that people sell, like, live animals
and slaughter them right there.
Every time I pass there, I feel very sad
to see the small animals
being slaughtered.
So, I guess from then on,
I already have a wish
that someday I wish I can protect
the animals that I love.
Because I had this experience
as a Chinese journalist
doing undercover work in Africa,
Ofir is now one of the best persons
for me to work with.
He's professional. He's been doing
these undercover investigations
for, what, ten years.
So, he really has a lot of experience.
Although, sometimes he seems
a little bit crazy,
but still, I believe he's going to try
to make this as safe as possible.
Every target that we have
came through an investigation
that was in the heart
of five different syndicates.
These are people
who are handling containers of ivory.
Hong is a very independent individualist.
He's very creative.
That's also another quality
that's very important in an investigator.
And he has a strong motivation.
But it needs a lot of polishing,
and we need to see if it works.
So, there is still a long way.
And, as we say, you use business words.
We're trying to expand.
We do timber, we do some minerals.
I do a lot of work in West Africa.
Well, I prefer to stay
South and East Africa.
That's a place that I have,
actually, knowledge.
West Africa--
No, because South and East Africa
is where he has knowledge,
so he can check you out.
Okay? Makes sense?
I was given a list of names,
and they are all major traffickers
in Uganda.
My mission is to use myself
and my partner as bait
to get them to show us the ivory
that they have,
and then get them arrested.
Moving too much is difficult.
No, I think it's very okay.
When they say "white,"
that means ivory.
And if they say "black",
it means the rhino horn.
I want to review your targets one by one.
-This is the last meeting, right?
-Yeah, yeah.
-She's already there.
-Okay, we'll start with the phone calls.
Hello, Joshua.
Do you have any ivory,
especially raw ivory?
Because, you see,
I have this great connection
with someone in China who is looking
for ivory right now in Beijing.
So, do you have ivory right now, also?
Two hundred kilograms, with you?
Okay, no problem.
So, give me back the phone to Juliette.
Hello, Juliette.
So, you are now going with them.
Make sure you use our own car,
because this could be a trap, okay?
So, how--
"The driver wants to know where you are."
Okay, so, the driver has asked me--
like, where are you right now?
So, you are still in the car?
Yeah.
Have you seen the merchandise?
It's in sacks. In sacks.
So, do you think Mr. Joshua is serious?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
You hear me well? Shit.
Listen to me.
You're heading for an arrest.
And what will happen
is that we bring another car,
which will be a four-by-four, white.
When it comes in,
it will have a Chinese guy,
which is our guy.
And they'll move after him
wherever he goes
to conduct the arrest immediately
when products are being seen.
Listen to me, I will insist,
because as a Chinese,
I won't go into that place.
They have to take the things.
I understand, but I doubt they will.
I understand you,
but I doubt they will. Okay?
And Tinka is armed.
He has a pistol.
-Okay?
-Yeah.
You are going to meet the criminals,
and you don't know
what is going to happen,
whether they will spot
your hidden camera,
whether they will bring someone
to search you,
whether they will-- well, whether
they will actually shoot you
if they find out
that you are investigators.
And you are the one who is going
to be alone facing the traffickers.
Hello?
Hello? Yes?
They are bringing the merchandise here
for me to see in my car.
And there will be a car coming here,
bringing the merchandise.
Okay.
And we're seeing the car.
Ask the policemen to be ready.
-Say it again?
-Wait a second.
I need to make sure that this--
Juliette. Juliette, come to me.
Ask Tinka to come out of the car.
Just stay here.
I was very afraid.
So, he took the things
to the car to show us.
Wow.
And then you have the arrest.
Shoot! Shoot!
Shoot!
We're going to cuff you.
Where are the cuffs?
Where are the cuffs?
I feel quite satisfied
with this operation
because local criminals,
they seldom suspect me.
Because, unfortunately,
they just never imagine,
like, a Chinese could be
on the right side
of the ivory and rhino horn battle.
So, I realize, "Oh, this time
I can make some difference.
I can be part of the change-makers."
This is the real trouble area.
It's not surprising.
There's no barrier at all
- to stop the elephants coming in.
If there's one place made
for elephant conflict, this is it.
Must be so tempting for them
coming into all this maize.
There's no water.
They don't have an option.
-They've got to come here.
-Yeah.
Where the heck have they gone?
-Over there.
-An elephant?
Yeah.
-Those--
-A lot of them?
-Should we go around and have a look?
-Yeah, a couple.
-On that side.
-There's a cow-calf herd.
Nice herd.
Yeah, they're the ones
the guys have been complaining about.
I wonder how many elephants have died,
that have been speared
coming into these farms.
That's him with them.
-Let's go around and have a look.
-There's a big tusker with them.
I think it's him.
Look at that. Beauty.
He's on his way to the farm.
By eight o'clock tonight,
they'll be right here.
It's people and wildlife
living in the same place.
When elephants are damaging
areas of farmland,
that farmer is not going
to view an elephant positively.
And as long as that continues
to happen,
poaching is gonna be something
that's accepted.
At the very least,
it's getting rid of something
that's ruining your livelihood.
We got a call saying
there are elephants up in the farm.
"You guys need to hurry.
There's a lot of people coming,
and they're all getting--
They're just sick of it,
and they're gonna kill an elephant,
or as many as they can get."
The ellies were just here.
They were obviously here
about five minutes ago.
Two different groups.
Possibly, Tim's in one of them.
We just saw a lot of them there.
They are right there.
The ellies are already pretty pissed off.
You can see there's a big group of people,
about 15 or 20 of them,
trying to chase them out,
shouting and screaming.
So, they're not in a good mood.
You can hear them rumbling
and screeching to each other.
So, we've just got to keep our distance,
and then we can hopefully
push them pretty quick.
I'd rather we do it than they do it.
Either one of those will get wounded,
or one of them's gonna injure an elephant.
And if one of them gets wounded,
then they demand we shoot an elephant,
which is ridiculous,
but that's what happens.
Today, this elephant, we will kill!
Yes!
You look at any one of those people,
and you know that they could
kill an elephant for sure.
And killing an elephant
is a real short step
to becoming a full-blown poacher.
Someone shouted elephant over there,
and they thought they saw one,
and they've run to go and kill it.
You guys ready to run?
We've got to get there
before they cross the road.
Follow me.
Keep coming.
-Is it on the fence?
-Yeah.
Here they are.
Throw it! Throw it!
Yeah, they're running out that way.
Calm down, let's talk!
My fellow men, please listen to me.
Listen, do you see these bananas?
These bananas are for my children,
not for elephants.
You see this maize?
It is for my children, not for elephants.
You see these oranges?
They take my children to school,
not elephants.
From today, we don't want to see
elephants on our farms.
We don't want them, lock them.
And what do you think
is the solution?
The solution is to kill them!
A fence.
Electrification.
I agree, but, you know, the fence,
it is expensive.
We will ask countries in Europe for help.
But everybody will have
to contribute something.
You will have to protect the fence
once it is erected.
We'll take care of it.
If you're lying about the fence,
the elephants will be in danger.
The elephants will die!
That's exactly what we're scared of.
A wildlife conflict
doesn't sound as bad as poaching,
but it doesn't take long
for it to become as bad,
and then become poaching.
Hey. Hi, Richard.
No, no, no. Hang on, Richard.
I'm just gonna put you on loudspeaker.
I want Craig to hear this.
Come sit here.
Yeah, can you hear me?
Yeah, I've got you.
Now, I know this is gonna be bad news.
Go ahead.
Yeah, um, well, it's not confirmed,
but I think one of the big tuskers
has been nailed.
And, yeah. It's right in the area
where Satao--
You know, that big cluster that we've
been monitoring for some time.
And you think it's him.
Don't tell me.
Yeah, yeah, we saw the carcass,
the first carcass,
and then landed and went there
on the ground.
Tsavo Trust confirmed that Satao
was shot dead by poisoned arrows.
My gut feeling
is that 100 per cent it's him.
Kenya's most famous elephant
in Tsavo East National Park is dead.
The giant elephant had tusks
that nearly reached the ground
and is believed to have been one of
the world's largest living elephants.
How-- How have we got to this stage
as a human race
when we just lay waste
to everything?
Anything we value, anything we see,
just gets consumed.
I don't know if it's ever
gonna make a difference
or if we're ever gonna do enough,
but we've got to try.
That's all there is to it, really.
I mean, where do I begin?
Look at that.
Thousands of tusks can be hidden
in these containers already,
straight from Africa,
en route to China,
from here, maybe.
So, that's so sad to see
that the end of these beautiful animals
is here, in a container,
in a rusty container.
I think that Satao can be
in any of these containers,
en route to carving factories,
and very soon Satao
will be chopsticks, rings.
That's the end of Satao here.
WildLeaks received
another leak from the same source
with a very interesting document
from Hong Kong Customs
with very interesting addresses
here in Hong Kong
of over 100 shops that sell ivory.
Here there is the site.
He's licensed to possess.
And they've been doing
some funny tricks, you see?
They're blacking out the name.
And down here,
they're blacking out the quantity,
the amount
that they're allowed to possess.
They're blacking it out.
And they are in Chai Wan,
which is on Hong Kong Island,
in the Eastern District.
We need a Chinese investigator,
and I think we have the man-- Hong.
We'll change just five per cent
of who you are.
We'll change your name.
Ofir Drori assured me that Hong
was the person I was looking for.
It's possible that they're linked
to some gangster
and weapons and drugs?
-Yes.
-Okay.
In Hong Kong,
organized crime is never far away.
-Okay.
-Yeah.
The triad activity
is just beneath the surface.
Is it plugged in? All right.
That's it. It's working.
Wait, the security guard's coming.
Hi.
The mystery to me
is how this ivory trade network
is really operating.
I really want to find out
where are the weak links
that we can break
to stop this network.
The only concern I have when I'm acting
against the Chinese criminals
is that, because there is
strong nationalism in China,
I may be seen as a traitor.
I don't want to be seen as a traitor,
because I believe--
I have been fighting so hard
for China's positive image.
Deception is a very,
very powerful tool.
And Hong, he's very deceptive,
because he can basically go anywhere
and nobody would imagine
that he's actually investigating
and recording undercover
and stuff like that.
The shops I have been to before
had so little ivory.
I have several tons,
I have four tons.
-Four tons?
-Not in the shop, in the storage.
You have four tons?
Yes. What is strange about that?
You must have a huge storage.
Ohh.
Does he have a lot of stock?
It's a lot of money, four tons.
That's a question we asked.
Based on what he said,
one ball is, like,
at least 1,000 Hong Kong dollars.
Wow.
-There's 2,300 a kilo, right?
-Yeah.
And he's sitting on $9.2 million
worth of ivory.
A guy like this,
you expected to be connected--
you expect him to be connected
to the upper layers.
He must be connected
to the suppliers and to--
-Somehow, right?
-Somehow, yeah.
In China, ivory is a luxury item
that some rich people see
as a status symbol.
Many people still see animals
as part of the natural resources
that they can use.
This is the same as why everyone
buy diamonds,
why everyone buys gold.
It is not like in the West
that most people see animals
as the living beings that they are.
We are dealing with real ivory investors,
speculators,
so they are stockpiling
because they are sure
that the price will rise
and rise and rise.
That's the future of ivory.
All my ivory products are legal.
When ivory was outlawed back in 1989,
we registered our stock
with the Hong Kong government.
But the record was not in detail.
So, when we sell ivory, I can now use
illegal ivory to fill up my stock.
And ivory can be legalized this way.
The government has absolutely no idea
how to regulate this.
This person is explaining
the whole process,
and it's unbelievable.
I mean, in itself, it proves
that the system they have
here in Hong Kong
is heavily flawed.
So, what do you do?
What do you do? It's--
I mean, personally,
it's-- it's--
I don't sleep at night sometimes
because I have this information,
and I don't know
with whom I can share it.
And I know that if I share it
with the wrong person, bye-bye.
It is more than fighting a war.
The most difficult part
is to identify the enemy.
The business itself
is conducted secretly.
The buy is secret, the seller secret,
the killer is secret.
So, everything is secret.
Very different from conventional war.
Our main problem is Shetani.
Shetani has given warning to our unit
that it's either him or us,
meaning he's ready to kill my officers,
and my officers know this.
It seems like this town and whole area
is awash with illegal firearms,
and are being used for terrorism
as well as poaching.
We discovered that Shetani
has ordered some guns to Zambia.
We want to arrest those guns
before they get out.
Four AK4s and two shotguns.
Hello? Hello? Anybody here?
You, open up!
Police! Open up!
Do you have a gun?
Where is it?
To me, it is not a pleasure
to arrest somebody with ivory.
To me, it's a pleasure
to arrest somebody with a gun.
If I can snatch the gun away from him,
I'm protecting the living elephants.
This motorcycle, it is for the bush.
It has no plate number on it.
This is because when they go hunting,
they don't want to be recorded.
So they go without the plate number.
Fighting anti-poaching is also
saving our country from terrorists.
Some of the poachers,
they go hunting for elephants,
sell the ivory, get money,
buy more arms for their jihad war,
which is terror war.
It has a bullet inside.
It's in the chamber.
-Do you know how to use it?
-No.
Why is there a bullet in the chamber?
It is a pump-action gun.
See, the bullet is in the chamber.
Among the bullets that we collected,
there was one with a white coverage.
That was a very strong bullet.
A single one can bring down an elephant,
and the gun here
is used for that business.
We have discovered
14 different syndicates,
all belonging to Shetani.
They can go with 1,000 bullets
and 50 AK-47s.
They're the hunting group.
So, you can imagine what would happen
if a herd of elephants is found,
or is caught up.
You can imagine the kind of massacre
that will come out of that.
There's only one solution
to bringing human-wildlife conflict
under control,
and that's an electric fence.
Without, people are going
to kill the elephant.
We've managed to buy some time.
The reality is, if the fences
aren't put in very soon,
thousands of people
are going to run out of patience.
And no matter what you have in place,
thousands of angry people
going out to kill elephant
are unstoppable.
I mean, it's a race against time.
At the moment, we're looking
at fencing all along there,
and this one's actually ongoing,
from Kibwezi to the north of the Chyulus.
-But not on to the Kilimanjaro.
-But not on to the Kili, not that one.
So, we've got the same issue,
but probably ten years behind you guys,
or 20 years, probably even more.
There's such cool lessons
to be learned from Lewa.
You know, because we really
were put against the wall.
And it was one old chap
called Mountain Bull,
and he would just cut
straight across here,
total disregard for fences.
When he wanted to go,
-Straight through.
-he just went.
But we've got the underpass here
under the main road,
and it's only 20 meters wide.
And actually,
they put vanilla on the rocks.
Don't ask me why,
but elephant like vanilla.
And it drew them in there.
And once one elephant had used it,
then everybody started using it.
-Straight away.
-It was all pretty simple.
-So, now--
-Yeah, now they're all going through.
Ian Craig's an amazing guy.
He's someone who's had decades
of experience in conservation,
from anti-poaching to the ivory trade.
You look at him, and he's got
his battered shorts and shirt on,
he's wearing his All-Stars and no socks.
But he's got a private line
straight to the U.S. government,
the U.K. government
and the Royal Family,
and he gets these guys to do
what they can to help us.
You know,
we've put in about $600,000.
We've got a conference call
on Monday again.
There are two events in New York.
One is with Hillary Clinton,
where they are coming in
behind the EPI.
If we can do that,
we've changed the future for elephant,
simple as that,
just with the stroke of a pen.
There's a collared elephant
in that group.
What I'll do is put in an armed team
here in the next few days.
You know, these elephants
are really vulnerable here.
I see that we're at a watershed
on the elephant crisis.
Helicopters and guns
and anti-poaching and intelligence,
with all the energy
and the best resources in the world,
we can't win this war.
There's simply not enough men
to patrol the ground
or cover the ground.
We need a political solution
to this problem.
The country
has embarked on an inventory
of national ivory
and rhino horn stockpiles.
This is not just a wildlife issue.
It's an economic livelihood issue,
it's a security issue,
it's an economic issue, and it's about
Kenya's place in the world.
The inventory process
will yield a digital national ivory
and rhino horn database.
This database will be stored
on a secure server,
hosted and maintained solely
by Kenyan Wildlife Service
and with restricted access.
We definitely will get rid of all of it.
But first of all, we need to know
how much we have here.
Yeah, it's not all here.
It's scattered around the country,
and it's very difficult.
How many tusks have we done now here?
At the moment, here in Nairobi,
we've done over 7,000 pieces.
-7000?
-Yeah, 7,000 pieces.
In total, we've inventoried 55 tons.
Because it's an electronic database,
we can go back to every piece.
And, Winnie, from here,
it's going into shelves?
Yes. Well, ideally,
that's what we would like,
but we don't have enough shelf space
for all this ivory.
So, we are creating a virtual shelf.
You can see that is shelf number four.
So, we would like to build up shelves--
We don't want to spend too much money.
Because if we stop the poaching,
why would we want the shelves?
-That's true.
-Perfect. So, no shelves.
- No shelves.
There's hundreds of millions of dollars
sitting in these stores
in the wrong hands.
There's multiple examples across Africa
of ivory being stolen
out of government stockrooms
and for it to be leaked
into the black market.
If that ivory doesn't go away,
we'll never stop this poaching.
So, we need to destroy it.
To me, these are all just dead animals,
they're dead elephant.
They all represent something
that should be living and thriving.
And what hits me so hard is,
where's the beauty in this,
these dead bodies?
It's just a bag of bones.
That's why I just affiliate
so closely with this destruction,
get it out of circulation,
kill the demand.
This is the best chance in our lifetime
to halt this slaughter.
One month ago, I was contacted
by the Wildlife Justice Commission
and Andrea Crosta from WildLeaks.
They told me that,
out of the whole world,
they have selected a village
called Nhi Khe
to further investigation on.
It's a village that is about
10, 20 kilometers away from Hanoi,
and it's, like,
the ivory and rhino horn village.
They have done
some previous investigation,
but they never get
to understand clearly
what was this village about,
what's the role of this village.
Be careful.
Keep cutting with the knife
so that the camera can go inside.
I think that's enough.
Yes.
Put it there and then screw it on.
Yes, screw, screw.
We should put some things here.
For example, your tampons.
Okay.
So if people open the bag and see them,
they would close the bag immediately.
Our setting is boyfriend and girlfriend,
so we need to act accordingly
and naturally.
Vietnam is very special to me,
because this is actually the first time
I'm taking more charge,
taking more leads inside investigation.
This time, I feel very nervous
because this is the most dangerous
mission I have ever been to.
This is, like, a criminal village.
So, imagine if you and your partner,
you are caught
right inside this village,
what could happen.
So, why is this
Nhi Khe village so special?
Why is all the ivory trade
only going through there?
Other villages have potential risks
of getting caught by police.
Police don't come
to Nhi Khe to arrest people?
You know,
people there have their connections.
As we walk into the street,
we see, on both sides of the road,
people are selling, openly,
a lot of ivory and rhino horn products.
I just have never, ever seen
a place like this.
This is rhino horn?
We had hundreds of kilograms of ivory,
which we just sold this morning.
Will they deliver for you?
Yes, they will.
It's too risky to take on my own.
But how do they manage
to transfer it across the border?
They bribe Vietnamese and Chinese police.
If you cannot pay them off,
it's a problem.
We realize
there are some Chinese buyers there.
They are professional ivory dealers,
so we went with them into a house
to meet the traffickers
they had already arranged to meet.
From where do you import this ivory?
Africa.
Can you give us
the price of ivory material?
Blood ivory is 1,300 USD per kilogram.
Transportation fee to Hong Kong included,
it'll be 1,500 USD per kilogram.
We've been doing this for quite
a long time, nothing to worry about.
As soon as we receive the full payment,
we'll deliver it to your home.
If you find something wrong
about the product,
you can get a full refund.
We're not going to cheat you.
Will it be dangerous
when we receive the products?
Normally there aren't any problems.
But there are always some risks.
After all, it's illegal,
so we have to do it secretly.
It's unbelievable.
So, they gave you a bank account
at a certain moment, right?
How does it work exactly
with the bank account?
In your understanding, it belongs to them,
or it belongs to a middleman?
The bank account,
in my opinion, belongs to them,
because they are all Vietnamese names,
and there is one border city
between China and Vietnam,
like, within China.
What they say is,
they will open a bank account there,
and then what will happen is,
usually the buyer will pay the money
to the bank account,
and then these people would deliver
the ivory and rhino horn
to China for them.
A village like this is certainly covered
and protected
by corrupt government officials, right?
Yep.
It's unbelievable. Unbelievable.
We are talking about millions
and millions and millions of dollars,
and a gigantic quantity of ivory
keeps getting into China,
keeps getting into this black hole.
As WildLeaks is not easy
to operate in China,
but today we are going
to engage directly
and meet an anonymous source.
This person sent us a few videos
on WildLeaks
with very compromising information
and offered her help to do more.
Internally, we now call
this person Omega.
She's Asian,
and this is pretty much all I can say.
So, how are you?
I'm okay.
A lot of traffic?
Yes, as always.
Oh, Jesus Christ.
This guy...
This is another room.
...has ivory up to the ceiling.
He has millions of dollars here.
He gave us information
that in Beijing area,
they have about 300,
400 little small workshops.
300, 400 workshops? Wow.
Carving the ivory.
I said, "Where do they get their stock?"
They actually have
one of the top government guys.
In the company?
One of the police guys,
or military police guys,
he also runs the business.
Runs the business? So, he--
Of course, because he's part
of the politicians, high-rank.
He easily gets the paper,
how to sell the ivory.
He totally trusts us.
He tells us everything.
It's worth it that we go there
and arrange a lunch or dinner.
I'll bring you in,
so you're my guest as well.
Exactly.
He's comfortable with foreigners
who is in this business.
He knows a lot of Western people
also involved
with the illegal ivory trade.
It's not only Chinese people.
The whole operation
is built around Omega.
We want to get as much proof as possible
on these big players
and show the Chinese government
that the illegal trade here in China
is out of hand,
to give them more reasons
to close down this evil market.
Actually, I would say
that the destiny of elephants
is entirely in the hands
of one single person--
the President of China.
So, I think it's the first time in history
that one person
has in his hands the destiny
of an entire species.
Wildlife crime has transformed
into one of the largest
organized criminal activities,
alongside with drug trafficking.
Operation Cobra III,
intelligence and information sharing,
registered seizures of 1.3 tons of ivory
and 65 rhino horns in Mozambique.
The reason why
I was looking for you,
I've heard of you also dealing
particularly in intelligence gathering.
-I thought that we should share something.
-Okay.
I have a professional poacher
operating in Mozambique
and all over Tanzania,
all over Tanzania.
And of recent, we have intelligence
which tells us
-that he's operating in Zambia.
-Okay.
This guy is known as Shetani,
"the Devil."
His actual photograph, I must admit,
we haven't got yet.
-Okay.
-But this is the man we're looking for.
He's killing all the elephants.
So, I think that one will also help us.
-I've got his network.
-Okay.
This is him here,
and you can see Shetani's syndicate.
-These are the people in his syndicate?
-Yeah.
He has a new number,
which I will forward to your phone.
Use your intelligence
and telephone communication providers
to see to whom he could be communicating
when he's in Zambia.
Hearing that Shetani is in Zambia
actually scares me,
and now gunshots were heard
very close to the national park.
So, this is more
than a wake-up call to me.
You know, all along,
Zambia has been quiet.
It hasn't experienced serious poaching.
-That's them.
-Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah, got it. Shit.
They're definitely poached.
That's not the one from the shots,
because it's too old.
-It's not from two days ago.
-Okay, yeah.
I didn't even know about that one.
-Control, Command 1, Command 1.
-Go ahead, over.
Warden, we've just found
an elephant carcass. Copy?
-What's that?
-Another carcass.
-Another carcass.
-A fresher one?
He's spotted another carcass
on the right-hand side.
-Was it very fresh?
-It's fresh.
We've just found
another elephant carcass...
When an elephant has been killed,
it actually breaks my heart,
because I imagine how long
it has taken for that elephant
to grow to that age,
and then here is someone
who just walks in for a few hours
and just guns it down.
It totally breaks me.
I need to get-- I need to get
the samples from this one.
The whole head of this elephant
is gone, it's missing.
There is no head.
So, it's like they did not remove
the ivory immediately from here.
They removed the ivory
from another place.
They just had to carry
the whole head with them.
I'm now taking the whole thing
very personal.
I can't afford to see
elephants dying like this.
I can't.
I can't afford that.
How many kilos does he have?
He said just five.
That's what he told me.
Yes, that same five kilos
will incriminate him.
You will see how you can buy time.
-Okay.
-Okay, okay.
Thank you, thank you very much.
We have someone who has ivories
in Lusaka,
and they would like to sell it,
they're in a hurry.
So, I just asked our officer
to buy a bit of time
until we return back to Lusaka.
Yeah? Yes, it's an AK-47 one.
Most of the ones made in Zambia
have a full metal jacket
made of copper, yeah.
It's a full copper metal jacket,
and that doesn't have that. Yeah.
Yeah.
Seeing these bullets
that are of foreign origin,
and the information
that I have about Shetani,
is very worrisome.
This is now proving
Shetani is really getting down
to poaching our elephants in Zambia.
If the guy is not going to open
after knocking, then we have to fire.
When this dealer goes in,
is it possible to come
and force ourselves--
You can't! It's a very strong gate.
Gentlemen, don't just fire
until we tell you to. Wait.
We are now going in.
We're going to a battlefield.
Be strong, be vigilant, be alert.
We are going to pounce
when they start weighing the ivory.
And then the informer
is going to make a call.
We will just let the phone ring,
and then officers, immediately,
they will know to say,
"It's time to go in."
-Wait, wait.
-Where are they going now?
These dealers
may very well be connected to Shetani,
because he's not the guy
who goes in the field.
He waits with the collectors,
the middlepersons, in the pyramid.
They go to him with the ivory.
They are now at the house.
Guys, come and see your package.
One, two, three.
You are not taking that one?
Can't you see how it is?
How can he take it?
It started to decay
just like a human being does.
It is $25 per kilogram?
I must calculate.
This is the house on my left.
There it is with a guard.
This woman needs to be grabbed.
Just be calm.
Just be calm, just be calm.
Just be calm, just be calm.
- Just be calm! Just be calm!
Uh-uh!
Why are you grabbing me?
Be quiet! Be quiet!
Come to the car.
- Get in the car!
Bring your hands.
Go, go, go, go!
You, you, you!
Don't run away!
You've already been seen. Don't run away!
Sit down!
Sit over there!
There he goes! There he goes!
You, idiot, you are going to die.
Now climb! Climb!
Climb over and sit down.
We've been following this one.
Stand up.
Easy, easy. I'm sick.
What are you sick of?
We are all sick!
Let's go.
Just break it open!
Let's see why they lock it.
Where's the light? Light!
Push it this side.
-This is full-length ivory.
-Full-length ivory.
-Fresh. Very fresh.
-Fresh, yeah.
We have been crying
that they are killing elephants,
and they are here in this house.
They go in for more than five years
with hard labor.
These are people I don't feel pity for.
They don't feel pity for the elephants
or any other animal that they kill.
I don't-- I've got no mercy.
We are in a warzone.
The poachers, the traffickers,
each one is trying to win.
So, it is very important
that I'm going to be working
with Elisifa of Tanzania.
We're really going to get down
to where Shetani and his poachers are.
We are not going to allow them
to win the war.
The poachers will try
to target the elephants here.
They'll try to shoot them
where there's water.
We sleep during the day
and work at night.
But if the locals keep quiet,
nobody will come here.
If they talk, the poachers will come.
It's been raining for the last month,
and so all the elephant have moved
out of their sort of historical grounds
around the protected areas further east,
and it's moving into a Somali area
where historically there's been
a lot of poaching.
And there's less and less presence
of government here,
so these elephant are on their own,
there's nobody looking after them,
and they're important to us.
To me, every single elephant counts.
These aren't just elephant.
These are individuals with families
and relationships.
And so, killing an elephant
out of a herd
is much more than just killing
an individual animal.
You're destroying a family.
You know, elephant are led
by a dominant mother
who is making the decisions
of where the elephant go
and when they go.
And if one is to lose
that mother figure,
suddenly you're left with teenagers,
you're left with young animals
having to make decisions
without any historical memory
in a world that is massively dangerous
and threatening.
No, it's--
Jesus.
Poor old girl.
Bastards.
Poor old elephant.
Poor elephant.
There.
This is the one that killed it.
It went directly to the heart.
In the end...
as long as ivory's worth money,
these poor animals
are going to be annihilated.
And these poachers will keep going
till these elephant are dead.
I'm sorry, mother.
Ladies and gentlemen,
welcome to London Heathrow
Terminal 5.
Are we really, in our generation,
going to allow the biggest mammal
on earth to disappear?
Losing elephant from Africa,
it's just a slower erosion of humanity.
And what's next?
We'll lose the rhino,
we're gonna lose the giraffe,
we're gonna lose the lion.
Suddenly,
we're gonna have an empty world,
full of people, but nothing wild.
My mission is to find good,
serious money
to invest into elephant conservation
in Africa,
and that money
has to come from somewhere.
We need to build fences,
we need to put in water,
and just managing elephants
costs money.
And yes,
it's a national responsibility,
but it's actually
a global responsibility.
The world wants elephants.
-No need to try it all on?
-I'll get you to try it on.
We just want to make sure
it fits perfect.
That's the 16,
and I'm gonna grab the 16 1/2 as well.
I just want to make sure
it's nice and long enough
so we can see the cuffs.
It just looks sharper that way.
Putting on suits and ties
and this high--
all the froth and bubble
around an evening,
it's part of the sight of making
conservation important for people.
The Duke of Cambridge has been
a personal friend for many years,
and I'll be seeing him today.
We'll be talking through it,
all about ivory.
But I'm seeing him as a friend,
and I'm just sharing a mutual passion
about what we can do for elephant.
Sadly, Africa continues to face
unprecedented challenges
in terms of poaching,
driven by the flourishing illegal trade
in wildlife parks.
Africa's elephant population has crashed,
from 1.3 million in 1979
to approximately just 400,000 today.
The rangers face grave danger
every day.
Over the last ten years,
over 1,000 rangers
have given their lives
in the name of conservation.
We live in a sorry world
when an elephant requires
the sacrifice of a human being
for its own survival.
But these people cannot face
the bullets and the threats alone.
It is up to governments
and international bodies
to unite behind them,
ensuring that their efforts
on the ground are fruitful.
- Let's check the cameras. You have it?
- I do, I do.
-So, you keep yours in the bag, right?
-Yeah.
So... okay.
I'll put the camera on the table.
It's like an evening bag,
so I leave it on the table.
I have another few friends
coming along to the dinner as well.
So that will make the dinner
look more relaxed.
He gets to know my other friends as well.
Of course, okay, great. Like so.
All right, let's do it.
Grizzly bear.
It's a blanket made from wolf leg skin.
Ah, from wolf?
So, you need a lot of wolves.
Only legs.
Wolf. Wolf skins.
They need about 100 wolves.
Yeah.
You see that picture?
It's made by butterflies.
-All with butterflies.
-From Brazil.
Butterflies are from Brazil.
It's like panda to China.
It's kind of like the most first-class,
protected species.
You can't even export.
Oh, wow.
Usually they put this...
I'm really happy because
he takes us to this unbelievable room
filled with all possible stuffed animals
and wildlife products.
So, we are really busting this guy.
And then everything goes wrong.
Close the door!
Close the door!
Where is the camera from?
-Can we talk?
-What is this?
Headed to the bathroom.
There you go.
Fuck.
Really, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.
It's all happening, like, in ten seconds.
I saw one looking at this bag.
He grabbed the bag, he opened the bag,
he found the camera and...
he destroyed the whole bag
and the whole camera
with all the wires and everything.
And then there was a moment of, like, ice.
And then, Omega--
I could see it in her eyes,
but she also told me,
in order to better protect them,
to get out of that room
as soon as possible.
Because if they had decided
to check everyone
and then Googled my name,
and then they would've found WildLeaks
after five milliseconds.
So, I saw that they were
kind of okay with me,
so I asked, "Can I go to the toilet?
Look, I leave here my bag, everything.
I just need to go to pee."
So, they let me go,
and in the bathroom, in the toilet,
I unwired myself
and I put everything here.
So, I have everything here.
Here I have the camera and the mic.
I put it here.
The frustration is that,
at this point,
I cannot do anything for her, for them.
I really hope they will find a way
to talk themselves out somehow.
Yeah, this is the moment, I think.
This is the bag.
And then she found something,
and she put it in front of the camera.
Back. And then she grabbed it,
and she's probably looking--
"Why she's putting this thing here?"
And then they found it.
Now they are checking the bag.
He's checking her phone.
He also grabbed the phone.
So, it's just bad luck and clumsiness
at the end of a very long day.
That's what it was.
But now they're in trouble.
And then I get the message.
She is safe. The team is safe.
So, the team got out safely, thank God,
because the traffickers thought
we were working undercover
with the government,
and they're fucked.
I just talked to Omega,
and she's nervous.
We're dealing with the top dealers,
so you don't know
with whom they are connected--
with mafia, triads.
It's too risky to stay in the country,
so we decided to leave China
as soon as possible.
How are you?
Good, good, good.
So happy to see you.
-Yeah, here's the order.
-That's the thing.
All the footage is on this.
Yeah, we need to take action.
It's just the beginning.
Yeah, it's just the beginning.
There is a lot of incriminating stuff,
at least enough to trigger
local investigations.
And we'll go public with that.
I just say yes, go and do it.
I'm really concerned about your safety.
Potentially, your picture can be anywhere.
Then I'm just out of it.
I go, I just go disappear.
I have to ask you why--
why you are risking your life.
I think it's decision-making time
for China.
When they see what the traders
really are doing,
I think the government
will wake up and say,
"Wow, the legal traders
are doing illegal stuff."
It's providing government
a chance to make it better.
Yeah. Thank you.
We'll do our best.
Hello, Boni.
What does she know about him?
The suspect is around his home.
Now we are planning to go there.
It's possible to effect an arrest.
Okay, what do you need for this operation?
What do you need now?
It is support, support.
Because that guy is armed,
and he has many arms there.
I think you should plan carefully,
go with some commandos.
The information coming in right now
is saying that Shetani has been seen
near his house in Dar es Salaam,
and he will get into his home
anytime from now.
Chico, tell Mweko
to get three, four officers
to provide cover.
They have more guns.
The special forces should be there
if they try to run.
I've been looking for this man
for more than three years.
I've been missing him so many times.
So, I will rush back to Dar es Salaam,
but I will only be excited
when I'm told,
"Yes, we have Shetani in our hands."
Hurry up and spread out!
Shetani!
Shetani, we know everything.
You understand me?
We already have your vehicle.
Shetani, where are the other cars
you use for your ivory?
Don't lie to us!
I've just received the information
that my hard-core poacher,
Boniface Mariango-- Shetani--
has been arrested.
At last, we have him.
Clap hands, men, for the good job.
Good.
Ahh.
Ahh.
How are you?
I'm fine.
-What's your name?
-My name is Mr. Boniface.
Mr. Boniface.
What about your nickname?
-Shetani.
-Shetani.
-Speak up.
-The Devil without mercy.
The Devil without mercy.
Okay.
Seeing this man arrested--
Oh, my friend, it was a--
I couldn't believe my ears,
neither could I believe my eyes,
until I came close to him
and even touched him.
I said, "Yeah, really, we have you."
We know everything about you.
We know you very well.
We know you
better than you know your shirt.
So, it's better you don't argue too much.
When we interview you, just be open.
When he was arrested,
we managed to get the cars
that Shetani owns
and uses in poaching
to traffic ivory.
Look, ivory pieces.
Very good.
This is not part of the car.
And it looks like some modifications
were made by removing this tank.
So, it simply means
this car has carriage spaces.
You understand?
-It means all this is for...
-Ivory.
For sure, when we interrogate him,
he's going to unveil to us
these international brokers
and traffickers,
but I want to pull as many people
as I can on my side.
Because a one-man war can never be won.
But if I can convince other persons
to join me in this fight,
for sure, we can see the number
of these endangered animals
growing again to the old numbers,
where we had over 100,000 elephants
in Tanzania.
Ladies and gentlemen,
we are now descending
to Hong Kong International Airport.
Please return to your seat
and make sure that your...
It's the final phase
of our long investigation here.
We acquired a lot
of incriminating evidence
about illegal trafficking.
In Hong Kong, I'll be meeting
a member of the local government,
a member of the Parliament,
and I will present all the evidence
that we have been, you know,
accumulating in the last year.
Hello. Welcome to Hong Kong.
Thank you very much. Thank you.
We work in the shadow,
but at the end of the day,
you have to give what you found
to media, to journalists, politicians,
and they have to do
their part of the job.
Together, we can really change things.
So, they're literally laundering ivory
here in Hong Kong
all the way to China.
It doesn't even stay
in Hong Kong, actually.
It goes there.
Exposing myself in media
and getting my face known
will mean the end
of my investigation career.
That will put a lot of risk on myself,
on my families,
on my venture, on my colleagues,
and many people have warned me about it.
And I have been quite concerned as well,
to be honest.
But at the same time,
I think it's very important
to let the world see there are Chinese
trying to fight for elephants as well,
trying to fight back.
This could be the turning point
of this whole battle for elephants.
From now on,
China will be part of the solution.
I am very ashamed.
There is always someone
who asks me,
"Why is Hong Kong the largest
ivory smuggling port in the world?
Why do you Chinese want to buy ivory?
What do you use it for?
Don't you think it's very cruel,
to kill elephants
just for ivory decorations?"
It's not the first time that NGOs
and other entities
conduct undercover investigations.
We can now see that ivory traders
use their official licenses
to launder illegal ivory.
World press is here,
CNN is here, everybody is here.
So, having a politician
like Elizabeth Quat,
Member of the Parliament
here in Hong Kong,
talking openly about this issue,
presenting evidence
and asking for changes,
she will generate huge public pressure.
I now call for a complete ban
of the ivory trade in Hong Kong.
When the buying stops,
the killing can, too.
Maybe we are very close
to a big change.
I feel that the government of China
is going to the right direction.
I think we are very close to a total ban
of the legal market of ivory in China.
This is the only decision
that can save the elephants.
And, yes, I have hope.
For the first time in years, I have hope.
Many of these tusks
belonged to elephants
which were wantonly slaughtered
by criminals.
We want future generations
of Kenyans, Africans
and, indeed, the entire world,
to experience the majesty and beauty
of these magnificent animals.
Poachers and their enablers
will not have the last word in Kenya.
We're training men to kill men
to keep elephant alive,
and we don't need to do that.
We just need to get this
out of circulation.
I can't really put it in words,
what this means, to get rid of this ivory.
But Africa's got 700 tons of ivory.
We're burning 15 tons.
So there's a long way to go.
That's some progress. That's progress.
The black market price of ivory
is still just going up--
all our information.
So, the threat hasn't changed.
It makes me enormously sad.
Because I don't know exactly
how many there are
or what the main tusk weight is.
Probably,
upwards towards 1,500 elephants
we're looking at behind us.
And if you actually
just use your imagination,
think of the number of deaths
and suffering,
the animals wounding,
and then the bereavement
of the survivors--
it's all there behind us
in one great, big stack.
This ivory has been moved
subversively across continents,
been sold under the table.
This is black money.
It's fueling international crime.
This is an international problem.
It's not Africa's problem.
The individuals
that are fighting this battle,
they can't win it alone.
It's too big, it's too complex.
Fencing development is the future
when you look at Africa.
There's no choice involved.
It's going to happen.
And the people of Africa want the same
things that everyone else wants.
They want to be able to have a TV,
they want to have a house
which is not knocked over.
They want to be able
to store their food in an area
where an animal doesn't get in there
and finish it.
Internet, which no one really has here.
And without it, these guys are never
gonna agree to living with wildlife
unless they get
the best of both worlds.
The United States and China have made
a commitment to stop ivory trade.
U.S. President Barack Obama
and China President Xi Jinping
announced that they will ban
commercial trade of ivory
in their respective countries.
China and Hong Kong are home
to the largest ivory market in the world,
while the United States is one of
the world's largest wildlife markets.
Shetani-- "the Devil"-- has taken over,
taken over the guns,
taken over the syndicates.
So he has become so powerful.
He's the most notorious killer
of elephants in this country ever known.
We have intelligence that Shetani
and his poaching syndicates
are in this village.
Open up. Police.
Where is Shetani?
-Where is he?
-Show us where your gun is.
Where is Shetani? Tell me!
Why aren't you giving him up?
You, get ready to shoot him.
Shetani employs
these men to kill elephants.
So, we must get Shetani,
at any cost, at any risk.
This is it.
It is an elephant-killing gun.
I was just given this gun.
This man is an elephant tusk carrier.
Shetani became too clever.
We were trying to lay traps.
Before we laid our hands on him,
he disappeared.
Delta Uniform from Charlie One.
Have you seen One Ton?
I saw another group,
but One Ton wasn't there.
Thanks.
Okay, so, they still haven't seen One Ton,
and they've done a full circle
around the area where he was.
He's the biggest elephant
we've got left.
We lost one of his colleagues
earlier in the year.
He died just about 500 meters
down that way
after a poison arrow.
Every elephant
is at risk at the moment,
even the female and calves
with only a couple of kilos.
A poacher will still make a bit of money
for that for his effort.
Every time something bad happens,
you're losing much, much more
than just an individual animal,
because elephants
have an amazing memory,
and they can live 60, 70 years,
and the passing down
of knowledge and experience
is something
that is amazing to witness.
Calves learn everything they do
from their mothers,
and they're much more connected
to each other
than even humans are these days.
This is One Ton.
And it's good news,
because he's just been up into the hills
and down the other side into an area
which is quite dangerous.
He's made a little friend.
I'm not sure how they met,
but they're oddly attached.
He's really relaxed,
but the little one can get quite fierce.
So we've just got to be
a little bit careful with him.
One Ton's left tusk
is probably two meters long.
He's got at least 70,
80 kilos of ivory on him.
You're talking top 20
in the world, probably.
I've heard stories about elephants
hiding their tusks,
but I've seen him do it once.
Specifically, when they know
humans are watching them,
they hide their tusks because they know
their tusks are valuable.
They're definitely intelligent enough
to figure it out.
Any poacher would risk his life happily
to get an animal like this.
My officers
will search on this side of the hill.
I will look with the Land Cruiser.
If they find any tracks or a carcass,
we will decide how to respond.
About seven o'clock this evening,
ten shots were heard
by a mobile unit.
We don't know what's happened yet.
It's pitch black,
so we're trying to find the scene.
It's gonna be really tough.
No matter how many men we have,
no matter how many guns we have,
every time that happens, you just feel
like you're fighting against--
fighting against an avalanche
that there's no way you can stop.
So, we don't really know
if there is a carcass.
They might still be here, which is why
it's still pretty dangerous in there.
The poacher's prepared
to shoot at you,
and you have to be prepared
to shoot back.
If you don't realize that,
then you need to go somewhere else.
Let's follow it up the road.
But it was two people.
Yes, they were two people.
We still
don't really know what happened,
so we're bringing in air support
to provide us GPS coordinates
to send teams in straight away,
but the thickness of the bush
and the size of the area
means it can take weeks
to find the carcass.
Elephants cannot protect themselves
against a concentrated effort
to poach them.
No matter what they do,
firearms and poachers
will win every time.
So, everything we do
is aimed at helping
those elephants fight back.
But the reality is, at the moment,
we're everything they've got.
And without us, they're dying
all over the continent.
This little statue, it's about $10,000.
And this beautiful sword here,
this is $200,000.
And this tusk here, painted,
is a bit less-- 170, 180.
She told me the price
is already been 20 per cent higher than--
than the former years.
Can you ask her
how heavy is the weight?
-More than 15 kilos.
-Fifteen kilos. Yeah, okay.
So, this piece is around $330,000.
I saw many dead elephants
in my life, unfortunately.
The first one was a little elephant
called Zambezi.
He was hacked.
I had literally tears in my eyes.
And from that moment,
I basically devoted my life
to try to make a difference.
The reason why thousands
and thousands of elephants
are slaughtered every year
is because we have
a legal market in China.
The problem
is that the legal market can rely
only on the small quantity of ivory
that the Chinese government distributes
every year.
It's about five tons.
It's not enough, five tons.
The demand is much higher.
So, they actually have to work
illegal ivory.
Imagine to have, in Europe,
a legal market for cocaine or heroin.
It would be really easy to launder cocaine
and sell it as legal.
When you find, in a shop, cocaine,
it is legal or illegal.
With ivory,
it's happening exactly the same.
You have a legal market
for something that is basically illegal
all over the world.
We are talking
about hundreds of tons of ivory
getting into mainland China every year.
Ivory trafficking
is a serious business.
There are powerful individuals
that are making a lot of money,
and they are able to control
politicians, security officers,
so you don't easily go to police
to report a crime.
It's extremely dangerous.
You risk your life.
You cannot trust anyone.
That's why we set up WildLeaks,
the first initiative in the world
dedicated to wildlife crime
whistleblowers.
I'm launching the Tor browser.
It was uploaded yesterday.
We don't know where it's from yet.
All right.
-Okay, you see it?
-One sec.
What is this?
There's no message, there's--
there's just this video.
Like, it's a pile of ivory.
Wow.
There is a gigantic tusk. Unbelievable.
We received a submission
through the Tor platform.
So, completely anonymous.
Tor is a technology developed
by the U.S. Navy,
so it's impossible to trace back
your connection to us.
I see some--
some numbers and--
R149039.
They obviously
have access to some stuff.
Can you share this video with a couple
of our most trusted collaborators?
-You know who.
-Okay.
They might help us to check
all these numbers
and all these written parts
on the tusks.
We'll get on it right now.
Okay, I'll call you tomorrow
at this time.
-All right, bye.
-Okay. Bye, Mike.
Elephants are pretty amazing, really.
They have feelings like a human.
And their reactions
to the deaths of other elephants
shows clearly that the feelings
they have for one another
goes far beyond our understanding.
Elephants revisit scenes
of where another elephant's died.
They can feel the bones,
they smell the ivory
if it's still there.
They've been known to go
and collect tusks
that have been taken away
from a carcass
and return them back
to the same carcass,
and there's clearly a lot more going on
in an elephant's brain
than anyone's ever realized.
I'm--
You can see how close together
they all are.
The poachers must've had
a real set-up ambush.
Whether the elephants
sensed danger before they--
before the poachers started shooting,
we won't know.
But as soon as they did,
they would've all clustered together to--
just to protect the babies.
You know, we found
more than ten cartridges here.
Who knows how many they picked up.
The poachers from southern Tanzania
now seem to be spreading out a bit.
This gang, we know there were
three Kenyans, four Tanzanians.
So, very professional,
knew exactly what they were doing.
Horrible thing to think, a whole family
all clustered together, and...
he probably wasn't even aiming.
She would've been the first to go down,
whereas that one...
obviously got wounded a little bit
and managed to run 20 or so meters.
Not far enough, though.
Traders in ivory
actually want extinction of elephants,
and that is probably
the biggest danger.
The less elephants there are,
the more the price rises.
The more the price rises,
the more people want to kill them.
And this is an ever-ongoing circle
that is just gonna end up
bringing about exactly what they want:
Extinction.
I've just sent you a message.
Yeah, this is a very important informer,
because he's going to assist us
to get to the culprits
for the Tsavo killing at the border
between Kenya and Tanzania
in Manyara, all right?
Okay.
Of course, the biggest one
that we are seriously looking for
is Boniface Mariango, alias Shetani.
His actual photograph we haven't got,
but his physical appearance
we can describe.
We are running more than
six informants now, working on him,
for every movement he makes.
The nickname "Shetani" means "the devil,"
and he's not easy to--
The name is derived from his cruelty,
particularly.
One collection from him can range
between 500 kilograms
to 1,000, 2,000,
up to 3,000 kilos of ivory.
He's the number-one wanted poacher
right now,
responsible for more than 10,000 elephants
as a single man.
He is Maasai by tribe, a Christian,
64 years.
He is living at Makame, Kiteto.
64 years old.
He can still carry a gun
and kill an elephant.
Jesus Christ.
Each tusk here weighs 15 kilograms.
This suggests
that this was a very big elephant.
If it was a "she,"
she was still productive.
We must have lost several elephant babies
by the killing of this elephant.
It's a loss to our country.
How many shillings did you get for it?
-250 USD.
-Per kilo?
No, for everything.
That's about $7.
Seven dollars a kilo.
In China, this would fetch $3,000 a kilo.
So, this old man, with all these hardships
he's facing in the bush,
and the life he's risking in the bush,
when he sells these products to Shetani
in his luxurious house in Dar es Salaam,
where he has a posh house,
he's getting only six per cent,
while Shetani goes away with 94 per cent.
If he continues this business,
there's no chance for the sons
and daughters,
or his grandsons and granddaughters,
to find an elephant in this country.
They can only hear of an elephant
in the history books
and see elephants in pictures.
We had over 100,000 elephants,
only to come down to less than 50,000
within five years.
We cannot sit down
and look at this happening.
It pains me a lot
to see these greedy men
who just want to get easy money
by merely killing, ruthlessly,
these animals.
Pains me a lot.
In the past, it's always,
like, white people are the good guys,
the local black people
are the bad guys,
and the Chinese people
are the extremely bad guys.
And I think it would be different
if this time
we could have some Chinese
actually being the good guys
in this ivory war.
Since I was very small, I always have
a strong passion for animals,
because every time,
on my way to the primary school,
we would pass a market
that people sell, like, live animals
and slaughter them right there.
Every time I pass there, I feel very sad
to see the small animals
being slaughtered.
So, I guess from then on,
I already have a wish
that someday I wish I can protect
the animals that I love.
Because I had this experience
as a Chinese journalist
doing undercover work in Africa,
Ofir is now one of the best persons
for me to work with.
He's professional. He's been doing
these undercover investigations
for, what, ten years.
So, he really has a lot of experience.
Although, sometimes he seems
a little bit crazy,
but still, I believe he's going to try
to make this as safe as possible.
Every target that we have
came through an investigation
that was in the heart
of five different syndicates.
These are people
who are handling containers of ivory.
Hong is a very independent individualist.
He's very creative.
That's also another quality
that's very important in an investigator.
And he has a strong motivation.
But it needs a lot of polishing,
and we need to see if it works.
So, there is still a long way.
And, as we say, you use business words.
We're trying to expand.
We do timber, we do some minerals.
I do a lot of work in West Africa.
Well, I prefer to stay
South and East Africa.
That's a place that I have,
actually, knowledge.
West Africa--
No, because South and East Africa
is where he has knowledge,
so he can check you out.
Okay? Makes sense?
I was given a list of names,
and they are all major traffickers
in Uganda.
My mission is to use myself
and my partner as bait
to get them to show us the ivory
that they have,
and then get them arrested.
Moving too much is difficult.
No, I think it's very okay.
When they say "white,"
that means ivory.
And if they say "black",
it means the rhino horn.
I want to review your targets one by one.
-This is the last meeting, right?
-Yeah, yeah.
-She's already there.
-Okay, we'll start with the phone calls.
Hello, Joshua.
Do you have any ivory,
especially raw ivory?
Because, you see,
I have this great connection
with someone in China who is looking
for ivory right now in Beijing.
So, do you have ivory right now, also?
Two hundred kilograms, with you?
Okay, no problem.
So, give me back the phone to Juliette.
Hello, Juliette.
So, you are now going with them.
Make sure you use our own car,
because this could be a trap, okay?
So, how--
"The driver wants to know where you are."
Okay, so, the driver has asked me--
like, where are you right now?
So, you are still in the car?
Yeah.
Have you seen the merchandise?
It's in sacks. In sacks.
So, do you think Mr. Joshua is serious?
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
You hear me well? Shit.
Listen to me.
You're heading for an arrest.
And what will happen
is that we bring another car,
which will be a four-by-four, white.
When it comes in,
it will have a Chinese guy,
which is our guy.
And they'll move after him
wherever he goes
to conduct the arrest immediately
when products are being seen.
Listen to me, I will insist,
because as a Chinese,
I won't go into that place.
They have to take the things.
I understand, but I doubt they will.
I understand you,
but I doubt they will. Okay?
And Tinka is armed.
He has a pistol.
-Okay?
-Yeah.
You are going to meet the criminals,
and you don't know
what is going to happen,
whether they will spot
your hidden camera,
whether they will bring someone
to search you,
whether they will-- well, whether
they will actually shoot you
if they find out
that you are investigators.
And you are the one who is going
to be alone facing the traffickers.
Hello?
Hello? Yes?
They are bringing the merchandise here
for me to see in my car.
And there will be a car coming here,
bringing the merchandise.
Okay.
And we're seeing the car.
Ask the policemen to be ready.
-Say it again?
-Wait a second.
I need to make sure that this--
Juliette. Juliette, come to me.
Ask Tinka to come out of the car.
Just stay here.
I was very afraid.
So, he took the things
to the car to show us.
Wow.
And then you have the arrest.
Shoot! Shoot!
Shoot!
We're going to cuff you.
Where are the cuffs?
Where are the cuffs?
I feel quite satisfied
with this operation
because local criminals,
they seldom suspect me.
Because, unfortunately,
they just never imagine,
like, a Chinese could be
on the right side
of the ivory and rhino horn battle.
So, I realize, "Oh, this time
I can make some difference.
I can be part of the change-makers."
This is the real trouble area.
It's not surprising.
There's no barrier at all
- to stop the elephants coming in.
If there's one place made
for elephant conflict, this is it.
Must be so tempting for them
coming into all this maize.
There's no water.
They don't have an option.
-They've got to come here.
-Yeah.
Where the heck have they gone?
-Over there.
-An elephant?
Yeah.
-Those--
-A lot of them?
-Should we go around and have a look?
-Yeah, a couple.
-On that side.
-There's a cow-calf herd.
Nice herd.
Yeah, they're the ones
the guys have been complaining about.
I wonder how many elephants have died,
that have been speared
coming into these farms.
That's him with them.
-Let's go around and have a look.
-There's a big tusker with them.
I think it's him.
Look at that. Beauty.
He's on his way to the farm.
By eight o'clock tonight,
they'll be right here.
It's people and wildlife
living in the same place.
When elephants are damaging
areas of farmland,
that farmer is not going
to view an elephant positively.
And as long as that continues
to happen,
poaching is gonna be something
that's accepted.
At the very least,
it's getting rid of something
that's ruining your livelihood.
We got a call saying
there are elephants up in the farm.
"You guys need to hurry.
There's a lot of people coming,
and they're all getting--
They're just sick of it,
and they're gonna kill an elephant,
or as many as they can get."
The ellies were just here.
They were obviously here
about five minutes ago.
Two different groups.
Possibly, Tim's in one of them.
We just saw a lot of them there.
They are right there.
The ellies are already pretty pissed off.
You can see there's a big group of people,
about 15 or 20 of them,
trying to chase them out,
shouting and screaming.
So, they're not in a good mood.
You can hear them rumbling
and screeching to each other.
So, we've just got to keep our distance,
and then we can hopefully
push them pretty quick.
I'd rather we do it than they do it.
Either one of those will get wounded,
or one of them's gonna injure an elephant.
And if one of them gets wounded,
then they demand we shoot an elephant,
which is ridiculous,
but that's what happens.
Today, this elephant, we will kill!
Yes!
You look at any one of those people,
and you know that they could
kill an elephant for sure.
And killing an elephant
is a real short step
to becoming a full-blown poacher.
Someone shouted elephant over there,
and they thought they saw one,
and they've run to go and kill it.
You guys ready to run?
We've got to get there
before they cross the road.
Follow me.
Keep coming.
-Is it on the fence?
-Yeah.
Here they are.
Throw it! Throw it!
Yeah, they're running out that way.
Calm down, let's talk!
My fellow men, please listen to me.
Listen, do you see these bananas?
These bananas are for my children,
not for elephants.
You see this maize?
It is for my children, not for elephants.
You see these oranges?
They take my children to school,
not elephants.
From today, we don't want to see
elephants on our farms.
We don't want them, lock them.
And what do you think
is the solution?
The solution is to kill them!
A fence.
Electrification.
I agree, but, you know, the fence,
it is expensive.
We will ask countries in Europe for help.
But everybody will have
to contribute something.
You will have to protect the fence
once it is erected.
We'll take care of it.
If you're lying about the fence,
the elephants will be in danger.
The elephants will die!
That's exactly what we're scared of.
A wildlife conflict
doesn't sound as bad as poaching,
but it doesn't take long
for it to become as bad,
and then become poaching.
Hey. Hi, Richard.
No, no, no. Hang on, Richard.
I'm just gonna put you on loudspeaker.
I want Craig to hear this.
Come sit here.
Yeah, can you hear me?
Yeah, I've got you.
Now, I know this is gonna be bad news.
Go ahead.
Yeah, um, well, it's not confirmed,
but I think one of the big tuskers
has been nailed.
And, yeah. It's right in the area
where Satao--
You know, that big cluster that we've
been monitoring for some time.
And you think it's him.
Don't tell me.
Yeah, yeah, we saw the carcass,
the first carcass,
and then landed and went there
on the ground.
Tsavo Trust confirmed that Satao
was shot dead by poisoned arrows.
My gut feeling
is that 100 per cent it's him.
Kenya's most famous elephant
in Tsavo East National Park is dead.
The giant elephant had tusks
that nearly reached the ground
and is believed to have been one of
the world's largest living elephants.
How-- How have we got to this stage
as a human race
when we just lay waste
to everything?
Anything we value, anything we see,
just gets consumed.
I don't know if it's ever
gonna make a difference
or if we're ever gonna do enough,
but we've got to try.
That's all there is to it, really.
I mean, where do I begin?
Look at that.
Thousands of tusks can be hidden
in these containers already,
straight from Africa,
en route to China,
from here, maybe.
So, that's so sad to see
that the end of these beautiful animals
is here, in a container,
in a rusty container.
I think that Satao can be
in any of these containers,
en route to carving factories,
and very soon Satao
will be chopsticks, rings.
That's the end of Satao here.
WildLeaks received
another leak from the same source
with a very interesting document
from Hong Kong Customs
with very interesting addresses
here in Hong Kong
of over 100 shops that sell ivory.
Here there is the site.
He's licensed to possess.
And they've been doing
some funny tricks, you see?
They're blacking out the name.
And down here,
they're blacking out the quantity,
the amount
that they're allowed to possess.
They're blacking it out.
And they are in Chai Wan,
which is on Hong Kong Island,
in the Eastern District.
We need a Chinese investigator,
and I think we have the man-- Hong.
We'll change just five per cent
of who you are.
We'll change your name.
Ofir Drori assured me that Hong
was the person I was looking for.
It's possible that they're linked
to some gangster
and weapons and drugs?
-Yes.
-Okay.
In Hong Kong,
organized crime is never far away.
-Okay.
-Yeah.
The triad activity
is just beneath the surface.
Is it plugged in? All right.
That's it. It's working.
Wait, the security guard's coming.
Hi.
The mystery to me
is how this ivory trade network
is really operating.
I really want to find out
where are the weak links
that we can break
to stop this network.
The only concern I have when I'm acting
against the Chinese criminals
is that, because there is
strong nationalism in China,
I may be seen as a traitor.
I don't want to be seen as a traitor,
because I believe--
I have been fighting so hard
for China's positive image.
Deception is a very,
very powerful tool.
And Hong, he's very deceptive,
because he can basically go anywhere
and nobody would imagine
that he's actually investigating
and recording undercover
and stuff like that.
The shops I have been to before
had so little ivory.
I have several tons,
I have four tons.
-Four tons?
-Not in the shop, in the storage.
You have four tons?
Yes. What is strange about that?
You must have a huge storage.
Ohh.
Does he have a lot of stock?
It's a lot of money, four tons.
That's a question we asked.
Based on what he said,
one ball is, like,
at least 1,000 Hong Kong dollars.
Wow.
-There's 2,300 a kilo, right?
-Yeah.
And he's sitting on $9.2 million
worth of ivory.
A guy like this,
you expected to be connected--
you expect him to be connected
to the upper layers.
He must be connected
to the suppliers and to--
-Somehow, right?
-Somehow, yeah.
In China, ivory is a luxury item
that some rich people see
as a status symbol.
Many people still see animals
as part of the natural resources
that they can use.
This is the same as why everyone
buy diamonds,
why everyone buys gold.
It is not like in the West
that most people see animals
as the living beings that they are.
We are dealing with real ivory investors,
speculators,
so they are stockpiling
because they are sure
that the price will rise
and rise and rise.
That's the future of ivory.
All my ivory products are legal.
When ivory was outlawed back in 1989,
we registered our stock
with the Hong Kong government.
But the record was not in detail.
So, when we sell ivory, I can now use
illegal ivory to fill up my stock.
And ivory can be legalized this way.
The government has absolutely no idea
how to regulate this.
This person is explaining
the whole process,
and it's unbelievable.
I mean, in itself, it proves
that the system they have
here in Hong Kong
is heavily flawed.
So, what do you do?
What do you do? It's--
I mean, personally,
it's-- it's--
I don't sleep at night sometimes
because I have this information,
and I don't know
with whom I can share it.
And I know that if I share it
with the wrong person, bye-bye.
It is more than fighting a war.
The most difficult part
is to identify the enemy.
The business itself
is conducted secretly.
The buy is secret, the seller secret,
the killer is secret.
So, everything is secret.
Very different from conventional war.
Our main problem is Shetani.
Shetani has given warning to our unit
that it's either him or us,
meaning he's ready to kill my officers,
and my officers know this.
It seems like this town and whole area
is awash with illegal firearms,
and are being used for terrorism
as well as poaching.
We discovered that Shetani
has ordered some guns to Zambia.
We want to arrest those guns
before they get out.
Four AK4s and two shotguns.
Hello? Hello? Anybody here?
You, open up!
Police! Open up!
Do you have a gun?
Where is it?
To me, it is not a pleasure
to arrest somebody with ivory.
To me, it's a pleasure
to arrest somebody with a gun.
If I can snatch the gun away from him,
I'm protecting the living elephants.
This motorcycle, it is for the bush.
It has no plate number on it.
This is because when they go hunting,
they don't want to be recorded.
So they go without the plate number.
Fighting anti-poaching is also
saving our country from terrorists.
Some of the poachers,
they go hunting for elephants,
sell the ivory, get money,
buy more arms for their jihad war,
which is terror war.
It has a bullet inside.
It's in the chamber.
-Do you know how to use it?
-No.
Why is there a bullet in the chamber?
It is a pump-action gun.
See, the bullet is in the chamber.
Among the bullets that we collected,
there was one with a white coverage.
That was a very strong bullet.
A single one can bring down an elephant,
and the gun here
is used for that business.
We have discovered
14 different syndicates,
all belonging to Shetani.
They can go with 1,000 bullets
and 50 AK-47s.
They're the hunting group.
So, you can imagine what would happen
if a herd of elephants is found,
or is caught up.
You can imagine the kind of massacre
that will come out of that.
There's only one solution
to bringing human-wildlife conflict
under control,
and that's an electric fence.
Without, people are going
to kill the elephant.
We've managed to buy some time.
The reality is, if the fences
aren't put in very soon,
thousands of people
are going to run out of patience.
And no matter what you have in place,
thousands of angry people
going out to kill elephant
are unstoppable.
I mean, it's a race against time.
At the moment, we're looking
at fencing all along there,
and this one's actually ongoing,
from Kibwezi to the north of the Chyulus.
-But not on to the Kilimanjaro.
-But not on to the Kili, not that one.
So, we've got the same issue,
but probably ten years behind you guys,
or 20 years, probably even more.
There's such cool lessons
to be learned from Lewa.
You know, because we really
were put against the wall.
And it was one old chap
called Mountain Bull,
and he would just cut
straight across here,
total disregard for fences.
When he wanted to go,
-Straight through.
-he just went.
But we've got the underpass here
under the main road,
and it's only 20 meters wide.
And actually,
they put vanilla on the rocks.
Don't ask me why,
but elephant like vanilla.
And it drew them in there.
And once one elephant had used it,
then everybody started using it.
-Straight away.
-It was all pretty simple.
-So, now--
-Yeah, now they're all going through.
Ian Craig's an amazing guy.
He's someone who's had decades
of experience in conservation,
from anti-poaching to the ivory trade.
You look at him, and he's got
his battered shorts and shirt on,
he's wearing his All-Stars and no socks.
But he's got a private line
straight to the U.S. government,
the U.K. government
and the Royal Family,
and he gets these guys to do
what they can to help us.
You know,
we've put in about $600,000.
We've got a conference call
on Monday again.
There are two events in New York.
One is with Hillary Clinton,
where they are coming in
behind the EPI.
If we can do that,
we've changed the future for elephant,
simple as that,
just with the stroke of a pen.
There's a collared elephant
in that group.
What I'll do is put in an armed team
here in the next few days.
You know, these elephants
are really vulnerable here.
I see that we're at a watershed
on the elephant crisis.
Helicopters and guns
and anti-poaching and intelligence,
with all the energy
and the best resources in the world,
we can't win this war.
There's simply not enough men
to patrol the ground
or cover the ground.
We need a political solution
to this problem.
The country
has embarked on an inventory
of national ivory
and rhino horn stockpiles.
This is not just a wildlife issue.
It's an economic livelihood issue,
it's a security issue,
it's an economic issue, and it's about
Kenya's place in the world.
The inventory process
will yield a digital national ivory
and rhino horn database.
This database will be stored
on a secure server,
hosted and maintained solely
by Kenyan Wildlife Service
and with restricted access.
We definitely will get rid of all of it.
But first of all, we need to know
how much we have here.
Yeah, it's not all here.
It's scattered around the country,
and it's very difficult.
How many tusks have we done now here?
At the moment, here in Nairobi,
we've done over 7,000 pieces.
-7000?
-Yeah, 7,000 pieces.
In total, we've inventoried 55 tons.
Because it's an electronic database,
we can go back to every piece.
And, Winnie, from here,
it's going into shelves?
Yes. Well, ideally,
that's what we would like,
but we don't have enough shelf space
for all this ivory.
So, we are creating a virtual shelf.
You can see that is shelf number four.
So, we would like to build up shelves--
We don't want to spend too much money.
Because if we stop the poaching,
why would we want the shelves?
-That's true.
-Perfect. So, no shelves.
- No shelves.
There's hundreds of millions of dollars
sitting in these stores
in the wrong hands.
There's multiple examples across Africa
of ivory being stolen
out of government stockrooms
and for it to be leaked
into the black market.
If that ivory doesn't go away,
we'll never stop this poaching.
So, we need to destroy it.
To me, these are all just dead animals,
they're dead elephant.
They all represent something
that should be living and thriving.
And what hits me so hard is,
where's the beauty in this,
these dead bodies?
It's just a bag of bones.
That's why I just affiliate
so closely with this destruction,
get it out of circulation,
kill the demand.
This is the best chance in our lifetime
to halt this slaughter.
One month ago, I was contacted
by the Wildlife Justice Commission
and Andrea Crosta from WildLeaks.
They told me that,
out of the whole world,
they have selected a village
called Nhi Khe
to further investigation on.
It's a village that is about
10, 20 kilometers away from Hanoi,
and it's, like,
the ivory and rhino horn village.
They have done
some previous investigation,
but they never get
to understand clearly
what was this village about,
what's the role of this village.
Be careful.
Keep cutting with the knife
so that the camera can go inside.
I think that's enough.
Yes.
Put it there and then screw it on.
Yes, screw, screw.
We should put some things here.
For example, your tampons.
Okay.
So if people open the bag and see them,
they would close the bag immediately.
Our setting is boyfriend and girlfriend,
so we need to act accordingly
and naturally.
Vietnam is very special to me,
because this is actually the first time
I'm taking more charge,
taking more leads inside investigation.
This time, I feel very nervous
because this is the most dangerous
mission I have ever been to.
This is, like, a criminal village.
So, imagine if you and your partner,
you are caught
right inside this village,
what could happen.
So, why is this
Nhi Khe village so special?
Why is all the ivory trade
only going through there?
Other villages have potential risks
of getting caught by police.
Police don't come
to Nhi Khe to arrest people?
You know,
people there have their connections.
As we walk into the street,
we see, on both sides of the road,
people are selling, openly,
a lot of ivory and rhino horn products.
I just have never, ever seen
a place like this.
This is rhino horn?
We had hundreds of kilograms of ivory,
which we just sold this morning.
Will they deliver for you?
Yes, they will.
It's too risky to take on my own.
But how do they manage
to transfer it across the border?
They bribe Vietnamese and Chinese police.
If you cannot pay them off,
it's a problem.
We realize
there are some Chinese buyers there.
They are professional ivory dealers,
so we went with them into a house
to meet the traffickers
they had already arranged to meet.
From where do you import this ivory?
Africa.
Can you give us
the price of ivory material?
Blood ivory is 1,300 USD per kilogram.
Transportation fee to Hong Kong included,
it'll be 1,500 USD per kilogram.
We've been doing this for quite
a long time, nothing to worry about.
As soon as we receive the full payment,
we'll deliver it to your home.
If you find something wrong
about the product,
you can get a full refund.
We're not going to cheat you.
Will it be dangerous
when we receive the products?
Normally there aren't any problems.
But there are always some risks.
After all, it's illegal,
so we have to do it secretly.
It's unbelievable.
So, they gave you a bank account
at a certain moment, right?
How does it work exactly
with the bank account?
In your understanding, it belongs to them,
or it belongs to a middleman?
The bank account,
in my opinion, belongs to them,
because they are all Vietnamese names,
and there is one border city
between China and Vietnam,
like, within China.
What they say is,
they will open a bank account there,
and then what will happen is,
usually the buyer will pay the money
to the bank account,
and then these people would deliver
the ivory and rhino horn
to China for them.
A village like this is certainly covered
and protected
by corrupt government officials, right?
Yep.
It's unbelievable. Unbelievable.
We are talking about millions
and millions and millions of dollars,
and a gigantic quantity of ivory
keeps getting into China,
keeps getting into this black hole.
As WildLeaks is not easy
to operate in China,
but today we are going
to engage directly
and meet an anonymous source.
This person sent us a few videos
on WildLeaks
with very compromising information
and offered her help to do more.
Internally, we now call
this person Omega.
She's Asian,
and this is pretty much all I can say.
So, how are you?
I'm okay.
A lot of traffic?
Yes, as always.
Oh, Jesus Christ.
This guy...
This is another room.
...has ivory up to the ceiling.
He has millions of dollars here.
He gave us information
that in Beijing area,
they have about 300,
400 little small workshops.
300, 400 workshops? Wow.
Carving the ivory.
I said, "Where do they get their stock?"
They actually have
one of the top government guys.
In the company?
One of the police guys,
or military police guys,
he also runs the business.
Runs the business? So, he--
Of course, because he's part
of the politicians, high-rank.
He easily gets the paper,
how to sell the ivory.
He totally trusts us.
He tells us everything.
It's worth it that we go there
and arrange a lunch or dinner.
I'll bring you in,
so you're my guest as well.
Exactly.
He's comfortable with foreigners
who is in this business.
He knows a lot of Western people
also involved
with the illegal ivory trade.
It's not only Chinese people.
The whole operation
is built around Omega.
We want to get as much proof as possible
on these big players
and show the Chinese government
that the illegal trade here in China
is out of hand,
to give them more reasons
to close down this evil market.
Actually, I would say
that the destiny of elephants
is entirely in the hands
of one single person--
the President of China.
So, I think it's the first time in history
that one person
has in his hands the destiny
of an entire species.
Wildlife crime has transformed
into one of the largest
organized criminal activities,
alongside with drug trafficking.
Operation Cobra III,
intelligence and information sharing,
registered seizures of 1.3 tons of ivory
and 65 rhino horns in Mozambique.
The reason why
I was looking for you,
I've heard of you also dealing
particularly in intelligence gathering.
-I thought that we should share something.
-Okay.
I have a professional poacher
operating in Mozambique
and all over Tanzania,
all over Tanzania.
And of recent, we have intelligence
which tells us
-that he's operating in Zambia.
-Okay.
This guy is known as Shetani,
"the Devil."
His actual photograph, I must admit,
we haven't got yet.
-Okay.
-But this is the man we're looking for.
He's killing all the elephants.
So, I think that one will also help us.
-I've got his network.
-Okay.
This is him here,
and you can see Shetani's syndicate.
-These are the people in his syndicate?
-Yeah.
He has a new number,
which I will forward to your phone.
Use your intelligence
and telephone communication providers
to see to whom he could be communicating
when he's in Zambia.
Hearing that Shetani is in Zambia
actually scares me,
and now gunshots were heard
very close to the national park.
So, this is more
than a wake-up call to me.
You know, all along,
Zambia has been quiet.
It hasn't experienced serious poaching.
-That's them.
-Oh, yeah.
Oh, yeah, got it. Shit.
They're definitely poached.
That's not the one from the shots,
because it's too old.
-It's not from two days ago.
-Okay, yeah.
I didn't even know about that one.
-Control, Command 1, Command 1.
-Go ahead, over.
Warden, we've just found
an elephant carcass. Copy?
-What's that?
-Another carcass.
-Another carcass.
-A fresher one?
He's spotted another carcass
on the right-hand side.
-Was it very fresh?
-It's fresh.
We've just found
another elephant carcass...
When an elephant has been killed,
it actually breaks my heart,
because I imagine how long
it has taken for that elephant
to grow to that age,
and then here is someone
who just walks in for a few hours
and just guns it down.
It totally breaks me.
I need to get-- I need to get
the samples from this one.
The whole head of this elephant
is gone, it's missing.
There is no head.
So, it's like they did not remove
the ivory immediately from here.
They removed the ivory
from another place.
They just had to carry
the whole head with them.
I'm now taking the whole thing
very personal.
I can't afford to see
elephants dying like this.
I can't.
I can't afford that.
How many kilos does he have?
He said just five.
That's what he told me.
Yes, that same five kilos
will incriminate him.
You will see how you can buy time.
-Okay.
-Okay, okay.
Thank you, thank you very much.
We have someone who has ivories
in Lusaka,
and they would like to sell it,
they're in a hurry.
So, I just asked our officer
to buy a bit of time
until we return back to Lusaka.
Yeah? Yes, it's an AK-47 one.
Most of the ones made in Zambia
have a full metal jacket
made of copper, yeah.
It's a full copper metal jacket,
and that doesn't have that. Yeah.
Yeah.
Seeing these bullets
that are of foreign origin,
and the information
that I have about Shetani,
is very worrisome.
This is now proving
Shetani is really getting down
to poaching our elephants in Zambia.
If the guy is not going to open
after knocking, then we have to fire.
When this dealer goes in,
is it possible to come
and force ourselves--
You can't! It's a very strong gate.
Gentlemen, don't just fire
until we tell you to. Wait.
We are now going in.
We're going to a battlefield.
Be strong, be vigilant, be alert.
We are going to pounce
when they start weighing the ivory.
And then the informer
is going to make a call.
We will just let the phone ring,
and then officers, immediately,
they will know to say,
"It's time to go in."
-Wait, wait.
-Where are they going now?
These dealers
may very well be connected to Shetani,
because he's not the guy
who goes in the field.
He waits with the collectors,
the middlepersons, in the pyramid.
They go to him with the ivory.
They are now at the house.
Guys, come and see your package.
One, two, three.
You are not taking that one?
Can't you see how it is?
How can he take it?
It started to decay
just like a human being does.
It is $25 per kilogram?
I must calculate.
This is the house on my left.
There it is with a guard.
This woman needs to be grabbed.
Just be calm.
Just be calm, just be calm.
Just be calm, just be calm.
- Just be calm! Just be calm!
Uh-uh!
Why are you grabbing me?
Be quiet! Be quiet!
Come to the car.
- Get in the car!
Bring your hands.
Go, go, go, go!
You, you, you!
Don't run away!
You've already been seen. Don't run away!
Sit down!
Sit over there!
There he goes! There he goes!
You, idiot, you are going to die.
Now climb! Climb!
Climb over and sit down.
We've been following this one.
Stand up.
Easy, easy. I'm sick.
What are you sick of?
We are all sick!
Let's go.
Just break it open!
Let's see why they lock it.
Where's the light? Light!
Push it this side.
-This is full-length ivory.
-Full-length ivory.
-Fresh. Very fresh.
-Fresh, yeah.
We have been crying
that they are killing elephants,
and they are here in this house.
They go in for more than five years
with hard labor.
These are people I don't feel pity for.
They don't feel pity for the elephants
or any other animal that they kill.
I don't-- I've got no mercy.
We are in a warzone.
The poachers, the traffickers,
each one is trying to win.
So, it is very important
that I'm going to be working
with Elisifa of Tanzania.
We're really going to get down
to where Shetani and his poachers are.
We are not going to allow them
to win the war.
The poachers will try
to target the elephants here.
They'll try to shoot them
where there's water.
We sleep during the day
and work at night.
But if the locals keep quiet,
nobody will come here.
If they talk, the poachers will come.
It's been raining for the last month,
and so all the elephant have moved
out of their sort of historical grounds
around the protected areas further east,
and it's moving into a Somali area
where historically there's been
a lot of poaching.
And there's less and less presence
of government here,
so these elephant are on their own,
there's nobody looking after them,
and they're important to us.
To me, every single elephant counts.
These aren't just elephant.
These are individuals with families
and relationships.
And so, killing an elephant
out of a herd
is much more than just killing
an individual animal.
You're destroying a family.
You know, elephant are led
by a dominant mother
who is making the decisions
of where the elephant go
and when they go.
And if one is to lose
that mother figure,
suddenly you're left with teenagers,
you're left with young animals
having to make decisions
without any historical memory
in a world that is massively dangerous
and threatening.
No, it's--
Jesus.
Poor old girl.
Bastards.
Poor old elephant.
Poor elephant.
There.
This is the one that killed it.
It went directly to the heart.
In the end...
as long as ivory's worth money,
these poor animals
are going to be annihilated.
And these poachers will keep going
till these elephant are dead.
I'm sorry, mother.
Ladies and gentlemen,
welcome to London Heathrow
Terminal 5.
Are we really, in our generation,
going to allow the biggest mammal
on earth to disappear?
Losing elephant from Africa,
it's just a slower erosion of humanity.
And what's next?
We'll lose the rhino,
we're gonna lose the giraffe,
we're gonna lose the lion.
Suddenly,
we're gonna have an empty world,
full of people, but nothing wild.
My mission is to find good,
serious money
to invest into elephant conservation
in Africa,
and that money
has to come from somewhere.
We need to build fences,
we need to put in water,
and just managing elephants
costs money.
And yes,
it's a national responsibility,
but it's actually
a global responsibility.
The world wants elephants.
-No need to try it all on?
-I'll get you to try it on.
We just want to make sure
it fits perfect.
That's the 16,
and I'm gonna grab the 16 1/2 as well.
I just want to make sure
it's nice and long enough
so we can see the cuffs.
It just looks sharper that way.
Putting on suits and ties
and this high--
all the froth and bubble
around an evening,
it's part of the sight of making
conservation important for people.
The Duke of Cambridge has been
a personal friend for many years,
and I'll be seeing him today.
We'll be talking through it,
all about ivory.
But I'm seeing him as a friend,
and I'm just sharing a mutual passion
about what we can do for elephant.
Sadly, Africa continues to face
unprecedented challenges
in terms of poaching,
driven by the flourishing illegal trade
in wildlife parks.
Africa's elephant population has crashed,
from 1.3 million in 1979
to approximately just 400,000 today.
The rangers face grave danger
every day.
Over the last ten years,
over 1,000 rangers
have given their lives
in the name of conservation.
We live in a sorry world
when an elephant requires
the sacrifice of a human being
for its own survival.
But these people cannot face
the bullets and the threats alone.
It is up to governments
and international bodies
to unite behind them,
ensuring that their efforts
on the ground are fruitful.
- Let's check the cameras. You have it?
- I do, I do.
-So, you keep yours in the bag, right?
-Yeah.
So... okay.
I'll put the camera on the table.
It's like an evening bag,
so I leave it on the table.
I have another few friends
coming along to the dinner as well.
So that will make the dinner
look more relaxed.
He gets to know my other friends as well.
Of course, okay, great. Like so.
All right, let's do it.
Grizzly bear.
It's a blanket made from wolf leg skin.
Ah, from wolf?
So, you need a lot of wolves.
Only legs.
Wolf. Wolf skins.
They need about 100 wolves.
Yeah.
You see that picture?
It's made by butterflies.
-All with butterflies.
-From Brazil.
Butterflies are from Brazil.
It's like panda to China.
It's kind of like the most first-class,
protected species.
You can't even export.
Oh, wow.
Usually they put this...
I'm really happy because
he takes us to this unbelievable room
filled with all possible stuffed animals
and wildlife products.
So, we are really busting this guy.
And then everything goes wrong.
Close the door!
Close the door!
Where is the camera from?
-Can we talk?
-What is this?
Headed to the bathroom.
There you go.
Fuck.
Really, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.
It's all happening, like, in ten seconds.
I saw one looking at this bag.
He grabbed the bag, he opened the bag,
he found the camera and...
he destroyed the whole bag
and the whole camera
with all the wires and everything.
And then there was a moment of, like, ice.
And then, Omega--
I could see it in her eyes,
but she also told me,
in order to better protect them,
to get out of that room
as soon as possible.
Because if they had decided
to check everyone
and then Googled my name,
and then they would've found WildLeaks
after five milliseconds.
So, I saw that they were
kind of okay with me,
so I asked, "Can I go to the toilet?
Look, I leave here my bag, everything.
I just need to go to pee."
So, they let me go,
and in the bathroom, in the toilet,
I unwired myself
and I put everything here.
So, I have everything here.
Here I have the camera and the mic.
I put it here.
The frustration is that,
at this point,
I cannot do anything for her, for them.
I really hope they will find a way
to talk themselves out somehow.
Yeah, this is the moment, I think.
This is the bag.
And then she found something,
and she put it in front of the camera.
Back. And then she grabbed it,
and she's probably looking--
"Why she's putting this thing here?"
And then they found it.
Now they are checking the bag.
He's checking her phone.
He also grabbed the phone.
So, it's just bad luck and clumsiness
at the end of a very long day.
That's what it was.
But now they're in trouble.
And then I get the message.
She is safe. The team is safe.
So, the team got out safely, thank God,
because the traffickers thought
we were working undercover
with the government,
and they're fucked.
I just talked to Omega,
and she's nervous.
We're dealing with the top dealers,
so you don't know
with whom they are connected--
with mafia, triads.
It's too risky to stay in the country,
so we decided to leave China
as soon as possible.
How are you?
Good, good, good.
So happy to see you.
-Yeah, here's the order.
-That's the thing.
All the footage is on this.
Yeah, we need to take action.
It's just the beginning.
Yeah, it's just the beginning.
There is a lot of incriminating stuff,
at least enough to trigger
local investigations.
And we'll go public with that.
I just say yes, go and do it.
I'm really concerned about your safety.
Potentially, your picture can be anywhere.
Then I'm just out of it.
I go, I just go disappear.
I have to ask you why--
why you are risking your life.
I think it's decision-making time
for China.
When they see what the traders
really are doing,
I think the government
will wake up and say,
"Wow, the legal traders
are doing illegal stuff."
It's providing government
a chance to make it better.
Yeah. Thank you.
We'll do our best.
Hello, Boni.
What does she know about him?
The suspect is around his home.
Now we are planning to go there.
It's possible to effect an arrest.
Okay, what do you need for this operation?
What do you need now?
It is support, support.
Because that guy is armed,
and he has many arms there.
I think you should plan carefully,
go with some commandos.
The information coming in right now
is saying that Shetani has been seen
near his house in Dar es Salaam,
and he will get into his home
anytime from now.
Chico, tell Mweko
to get three, four officers
to provide cover.
They have more guns.
The special forces should be there
if they try to run.
I've been looking for this man
for more than three years.
I've been missing him so many times.
So, I will rush back to Dar es Salaam,
but I will only be excited
when I'm told,
"Yes, we have Shetani in our hands."
Hurry up and spread out!
Shetani!
Shetani, we know everything.
You understand me?
We already have your vehicle.
Shetani, where are the other cars
you use for your ivory?
Don't lie to us!
I've just received the information
that my hard-core poacher,
Boniface Mariango-- Shetani--
has been arrested.
At last, we have him.
Clap hands, men, for the good job.
Good.
Ahh.
Ahh.
How are you?
I'm fine.
-What's your name?
-My name is Mr. Boniface.
Mr. Boniface.
What about your nickname?
-Shetani.
-Shetani.
-Speak up.
-The Devil without mercy.
The Devil without mercy.
Okay.
Seeing this man arrested--
Oh, my friend, it was a--
I couldn't believe my ears,
neither could I believe my eyes,
until I came close to him
and even touched him.
I said, "Yeah, really, we have you."
We know everything about you.
We know you very well.
We know you
better than you know your shirt.
So, it's better you don't argue too much.
When we interview you, just be open.
When he was arrested,
we managed to get the cars
that Shetani owns
and uses in poaching
to traffic ivory.
Look, ivory pieces.
Very good.
This is not part of the car.
And it looks like some modifications
were made by removing this tank.
So, it simply means
this car has carriage spaces.
You understand?
-It means all this is for...
-Ivory.
For sure, when we interrogate him,
he's going to unveil to us
these international brokers
and traffickers,
but I want to pull as many people
as I can on my side.
Because a one-man war can never be won.
But if I can convince other persons
to join me in this fight,
for sure, we can see the number
of these endangered animals
growing again to the old numbers,
where we had over 100,000 elephants
in Tanzania.
Ladies and gentlemen,
we are now descending
to Hong Kong International Airport.
Please return to your seat
and make sure that your...
It's the final phase
of our long investigation here.
We acquired a lot
of incriminating evidence
about illegal trafficking.
In Hong Kong, I'll be meeting
a member of the local government,
a member of the Parliament,
and I will present all the evidence
that we have been, you know,
accumulating in the last year.
Hello. Welcome to Hong Kong.
Thank you very much. Thank you.
We work in the shadow,
but at the end of the day,
you have to give what you found
to media, to journalists, politicians,
and they have to do
their part of the job.
Together, we can really change things.
So, they're literally laundering ivory
here in Hong Kong
all the way to China.
It doesn't even stay
in Hong Kong, actually.
It goes there.
Exposing myself in media
and getting my face known
will mean the end
of my investigation career.
That will put a lot of risk on myself,
on my families,
on my venture, on my colleagues,
and many people have warned me about it.
And I have been quite concerned as well,
to be honest.
But at the same time,
I think it's very important
to let the world see there are Chinese
trying to fight for elephants as well,
trying to fight back.
This could be the turning point
of this whole battle for elephants.
From now on,
China will be part of the solution.
I am very ashamed.
There is always someone
who asks me,
"Why is Hong Kong the largest
ivory smuggling port in the world?
Why do you Chinese want to buy ivory?
What do you use it for?
Don't you think it's very cruel,
to kill elephants
just for ivory decorations?"
It's not the first time that NGOs
and other entities
conduct undercover investigations.
We can now see that ivory traders
use their official licenses
to launder illegal ivory.
World press is here,
CNN is here, everybody is here.
So, having a politician
like Elizabeth Quat,
Member of the Parliament
here in Hong Kong,
talking openly about this issue,
presenting evidence
and asking for changes,
she will generate huge public pressure.
I now call for a complete ban
of the ivory trade in Hong Kong.
When the buying stops,
the killing can, too.
Maybe we are very close
to a big change.
I feel that the government of China
is going to the right direction.
I think we are very close to a total ban
of the legal market of ivory in China.
This is the only decision
that can save the elephants.
And, yes, I have hope.
For the first time in years, I have hope.
Many of these tusks
belonged to elephants
which were wantonly slaughtered
by criminals.
We want future generations
of Kenyans, Africans
and, indeed, the entire world,
to experience the majesty and beauty
of these magnificent animals.
Poachers and their enablers
will not have the last word in Kenya.
We're training men to kill men
to keep elephant alive,
and we don't need to do that.
We just need to get this
out of circulation.
I can't really put it in words,
what this means, to get rid of this ivory.
But Africa's got 700 tons of ivory.
We're burning 15 tons.
So there's a long way to go.
That's some progress. That's progress.
The black market price of ivory
is still just going up--
all our information.
So, the threat hasn't changed.
It makes me enormously sad.
Because I don't know exactly
how many there are
or what the main tusk weight is.
Probably,
upwards towards 1,500 elephants
we're looking at behind us.
And if you actually
just use your imagination,
think of the number of deaths
and suffering,
the animals wounding,
and then the bereavement
of the survivors--
it's all there behind us
in one great, big stack.
This ivory has been moved
subversively across continents,
been sold under the table.
This is black money.
It's fueling international crime.
This is an international problem.
It's not Africa's problem.
The individuals
that are fighting this battle,
they can't win it alone.
It's too big, it's too complex.
Fencing development is the future
when you look at Africa.
There's no choice involved.
It's going to happen.
And the people of Africa want the same
things that everyone else wants.
They want to be able to have a TV,
they want to have a house
which is not knocked over.
They want to be able
to store their food in an area
where an animal doesn't get in there
and finish it.
Internet, which no one really has here.
And without it, these guys are never
gonna agree to living with wildlife
unless they get
the best of both worlds.
The United States and China have made
a commitment to stop ivory trade.
U.S. President Barack Obama
and China President Xi Jinping
announced that they will ban
commercial trade of ivory
in their respective countries.
China and Hong Kong are home
to the largest ivory market in the world,
while the United States is one of
the world's largest wildlife markets.