• Wildlife trafficking kingpin Vixay Keosavang (left) and his lieutenant Chumlong Lemtongthai (right) pictures in 'Killing for Profit'. Chumlong is currently serving a 40 year prison sentence in South Africa.

    The Kingpin

    By Julian Rademeyer This is the face of international wildlife trafficking. Vixay Keosavang is one of the most ruthless and active wildlife smugglers operating in Southeast Asia and Africa today. His activities and those of the Thai nationals he employed to acquire rhino horn, ivory, lion bones, pangolins, reptiles and monkeys for his company, Xaysavang [...]

  • 3rd Degree: Busting the illegal rhino horn trade

    3rd Degree with Debora Patta and Julian Rademeyer investigates the illegal rhino horn trade, pseudo-hunting, and  the activities of a ruthless Laotian crime syndicate headed by Vixay Keosavang, the “Pablo Escobar of wildlife crime”. (Be warned, the shows contains upsetting scenes which may disturb sensitive viewers) Tweet

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    Apartheid’s Secret

    The latest archive document…In January 1996, Judge Mark Kumleben – the chairman of a commission of inquiry into the illegal trade in ivory and rhino horn in South Africa – released his report. It ran to more than 200 pages and, despite the dry legalese, read like a thriller. It found that the South African [...]

  • Killing for Profit launch trailer

    The official launch of “Killing for Profit – Exposing the illegal rhino horn trade” took place on  on 21 November 2012 at Hyde Park Exclusive Books. Watch the launch trailer… Tweet

  • Chumlong Lemtongthai

    The story that exposed the Xaysavang syndicate…

    Wildlife trafficking trail trail leads to SA safari man 21 July 2011 By Julian Rademeyer (Media24 Investigations) Johannesburg – A South African lion breeder and safari operator has emerged as a key supplier of millions of rands worth of rhino horn to a ruthless southeast Asian wildlife trafficking syndicate. Marnus Steyl, 37, allegedly stood to [...]

A terrifying true story of greed, corruption, depravity and ruthless criminal enterprise.

On the black markets of Southeast Asia, rhino horn is worth more than gold, cocaine and heroin. This is the story of a more than two-year-long investigation into a dangerous criminal underworld where merciless syndicates will stop at nothing to attain their prize. It is a tale of greed, folly and corruption, and of an increasingly desperate battle to save rhinos - which have existed for more than 50 million years.
Killing for Profit is a meticulous, devastating and revelatory account of one of the world’s most secretive trades. It exposes poachers, scoundrels, gangsters, conmen, mercenaries, killers, gun-runners, diplomats, government officials and kingpins behind the slaughter. And it follows the bloody trail from the frontlines of the rhino wars to the lair of a wildlife-trafficking kingpin on the banks of the Mekong River in Laos …

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“If you want to read a whodunnit, this is the book for you”

Julian Rademeyer chats to Talk Radio 702′s Jenny Crwys-Williams about rhino poaching, organised crime and the sordid underworld of international wildlife trafficking.   Tweet

Busting the illegal rhino horn trade from Julian Rademeyer on Vimeo.

3rd Degree: Busting the illegal rhino horn trade

3rd Degree with Debora Patta and Julian Rademeyer investigates the illegal rhino horn trade, pseudo-hunting, and  the activities of a ruthless Laotian crime syndicate headed by Vixay Keosavang, the “Pablo Escobar of wildlife crime”. (Be warned, the shows contains upsetting scenes which may disturb sensitive viewers) Tweet

Review: Lifting the veil on rhino poaching’s dastardly cast

Julian Rademeyer is fresh from another wildlife sting operation in west Africa when we meet for coffee in Parkhurst, writes Yolandi Groenewald. Since the release of his book about rhino poaching, Killing for Profit, he is now very much in the thick of exposing wildlife trafficking’s sordid underbelly. “Joburg is pretty much the wildlife-trafficking capital [...]

South Africa's Rhino War from Julian Rademeyer on Vimeo.

South Africa’s Rhino War

More than 80 rhinos have been killed by poachers in the first six weeks of 2013. At the current rate, poaching levels – which have doubled since 2010 –  could easily exceed the 800 mark by the end of the year. Julian Rademeyer talks to eNCA’s Eleni Giokos about the poaching crisis and the seemingly [...]

Morning Live with Leane Manas from Julian Rademeyer on Vimeo.

Morning Live discusses Killing for Profit

Julian Rademeyer discusses  Killing for Profit, with Leane Manas on SABC 2′s Morning Live programme… Tweet

Operation Lock’s Secret

This is one of the operational reports compiled in June 1989 by Colonel Ian Crooke, the leader of Operation Lock, an ill-fated covert plan to combat rhino poaching and assassinate rhino horn dealers in Southern Africa. The strange tale is the subject of two chapters in Killing for Profit. Crooke, a decorated  SAS veteran led [...]

Al Jazeera: Discussing the wildlife trafficking underworld

Julian Rademeyer joins Quyen Vu from Education for Nature Vietnam, Teresa Telecky from Humane Society International and Lisa Fletcher, host of Al Jazeera’s The Stream, for a discussion on wildlife trafficking, armed conflict and the ruthless criminal syndicates that are driving a lucrative and deadly trade in rhino horn, ivory and animal parts. Visit the show’s [...]