Anecdotal evidence indicates that both licit and illicit wildlife has been found comingled with
shipments of other contraband goods, including drugs, weapons, stolen cars, and human beings.17
In one instance, customs officials recovered Colombian cocaine-filled condoms that had been
inserted into a crate of snakes. Other mixes of narcotics and wildlife include cases involving
elephant tusks stuffed with hashish and exotic parrots smuggled with methamphetamine pills.
Valuable wildlife products can be used in lieu of cash as a means to launder money or exchange
for other illicit commodities, such as drugs and weapons. In South Africa, for example, street
gangs have reportedly provided highly prized, but illegal, catches of abalone to Asian crime
syndicates in exchange for methamphetamine.18 In some cases, particularly those linked to ivory
and rhino horn poaching in Africa and South Asia, anecdotal evidence points to the potential
involvement of armed groups, including terrorists, warlords, and insurgents.