• 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 [...]

  • 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

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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 from Julian Rademeyer on Vimeo.

    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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Killing for Profit is a “cracking tale…meticulously researched”

In the latest installment of her Backstory series for Journalism.co.za – entitled “You go nutty sitting in a room every day with a laptop and a bored cat” – Gill Moodie talks to Julian Rademeyer about the writing of Killing for Profit. “For my money,” she writes, “I think Julian Rademeyer’s Killing for Profit  about rhino poaching…has [...]

Julian Rademeyer on The Justice Factor from Julian Rademeyer on Vimeo.

The Justice Factor interview

Julian Rademeyer in conversation with Justice Malala about rhino poaching, organised crime and the shadowy world of wildlife trafficking. (First broadcast on the eNews Channel Africa on 25 November, 2012) Tweet

Was 40 year jail sentence for rhino horn smuggler justified?

Julian Rademeyer in conversation with EWN reporter Alex Eliseev about the conviction and 40-year jail sentence meted out to rhino horn trafficker Chumlong Lemtongthai, one of the central characters in Killing for Profit. Tweet

Update: Key “Musina Mafia” figure jailed for ten years

22 November, 2012 A key figure in the so-called “Musina Mafia”, Rodgers Mukwena, has been jailed for ten years after pleading guilty to the illegal possession of rhino horn. It is the maximum sentence allowable under South African law for a first-time offender in this category of crime. But while the Zimbabwean teacher-turned-poacher may have [...]

Killing for Profit launch trailer from Julian Rademeyer on Vimeo.

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

Talk Radio 702 Interview About the Book

Julian Rademeyer discusses “Killing for Profit – Exposing the illegal rhino horn trade” with Talk Radio 702′s John Robbie in a podcast of an interview recorded on 20 November 2012. Click on the headline to listen… Tweet

Al Jazeera Correspondent – The Last Rhino

A remarkable film by Clifford Bestall and Jonah Hull; two fine journalists  that I had the privilege of accompanying on a journey to Mozambique. For more on the poachers and the tragedy of the poaching villages featured in the documentary, read this extract from “Killing for Profit”, published by the Mail & Guardian: Deep in [...]