Earth League International - ELI

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Earth League International - ELI

Our pioneering use of professional intelligence and analysis sets us apart as a leading fact-finding organization.

The Intelligence Agency for Earth: Revealing Truth, Protecting Nature
We engage in intelligence-gathering field operations and rigorous research to unearth evidence and reveal previously undisclosed information about the criminal exploitation of nature. The Intelligence Agency for Earth: Revealing Truth, Protecting Nature

We are Earth League International: your first source for the intelligence t

hat drives action in the fight against environmental crime. At ELI, we engage in extensive intelligence-gathering field operations and rigorous research to unearth evidence and reveal previously undisclosed information about the criminal exploitation of nature. Through our meticulous field investigations, we specialize in identifying and exposing the most significant wildlife traffickers and environmental criminals in the world, along with their ties to transnational organized crime and corrupt government officials. Our work goes beyond mere information gathering; we are dedicated to empowering stakeholders across various sectors to take meaningful action against environmental crime. By providing first-hand intelligence about the mechanisms behind these crimes, we equip law enforcement agencies, government bodies, policymakers, academics, media outlets, and NGOs with the knowledge needed to affect change. Everything we do at ELI is grounded in facts and field-based information, ensuring that our findings serve as the building blocks for action and accountability. By shedding light on the hidden activities of the world’s most important environmental criminals and their networks, ELI tackles the root causes behind the ongoing exploitation of wildlife, ecosystems, and biodiversity. Please visit our website for more info: earthleagueinternational.org

Thank you for your support!

08/03/2026

ELI Featured in Mongabay: Operation SANDOKAN

Earth League International is honored to be featured in Mongabay for Operation SANDOKAN, our undercover investigation exposing one of Southeast Asia’s largest wildlife trafficking networks.

For more than a year, ELI investigators infiltrated criminal networks across Cambodia, uncovering five alleged kingpins linked to wildlife trafficking, human trafficking, narcotics, financial crime, and online scam centers.

As ELI Founder Andrea Crosta says:

“Our work is to give a name and a face to these ‘ghosts’ so they’re not invisible anymore.”

By identifying the people and networks behind environmental crime, ELI provides intelligence that helps law enforcement target and take effective action against criminal organizations, not just individual seizures.

Read the full feature here: https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/report-reveals-cambodias-appetite-for-tigers-rhinos-and-other-endangered-wildlife/

07/30/2026

ELI Launches New Monthly Intelligence Brief Series: Inside the Trafficking Networks Behind Environmental Crime

Today, we're excited to launch a new monthly series of concise intelligence briefs that share insights emerging directly from our field investigations and intelligence operations.

Our first brief explores the global trade in donkey skins, a widespread but often overlooked trade that our field investigations revealed is closely intertwined with broader illegal wildlife trafficking networks. Drawing on intelligence gathered by ELI investigators and analysts, it shows how traffickers exploit donkey skin shipments to facilitate the movement of other illegal wildlife products, offering a compelling example of environmental crime convergence in action.

Importantly, this intelligence does not end with publication. Based on these findings, ELI shared confidential intelligence with law enforcement and government agencies, contributing to investigations and other non-public enforcement actions. Our team also shared intelligence with relevant media outlets to support investigative reporting that helps expose these criminal networks.

Through this new series, we hope to equip governments, law enforcement, researchers, journalists, policymakers, and the public with timely insights that strengthen the collective effort to protect our Planet.

Have a topic related to illegal wildlife trafficking, environmental crime, or crime convergence you'd like us to explore in a future brief? We'd love to hear from you.

Read the brief here: https://earthleagueinternational.org/2026/07/16/the-donkey-skin-trade/

📧 Send your suggestions to [email protected].

07/05/2026

Missed our Operation SANDOKAN webinar? The recording is now available. 🎥

Thank you to everyone who joined us from around the world for Operation SANDOKAN: Unmasking the Lower Mekong’s Biggest Wildlife Traffickers.

Drawing on more than a year of undercover intelligence operations inside wildlife trafficking networks across Cambodia and the Lower Mekong, ELI shared exclusive insights into how some of the region’s most powerful wildlife traffickers operate — and the criminal systems that allow them to thrive.

The discussion revealed how wildlife trafficking is not only a conservation crisis. It is deeply connected to corruption, financial crime, and transnational organized crime networks operating across borders.

Your questions and engagement reflect a growing global commitment to exposing and disrupting the criminal economies driving environmental crime.

Thank you to our global community of researchers, policymakers, law enforcement professionals, conservation practitioners, journalists, and engaged citizens working toward accountability and change.

Stay connected as we continue sharing intelligence findings, emerging criminal trends, and pathways for collective action.

🎥 Watch the recording here: https://canva.link/operationsandokan

06/30/2026

Tomorrow: Don't miss this exclusive webinar.

🚨 What happens when ELI’s investigators go undercover inside one of the world's largest wildlife trafficking networks?

Join the ELI team on Wednesday, July 1st, for an exclusive webinar unveiling the findings of Operation SANDOKAN—the most extensive undercover investigation into the illegal wildlife trade ever conducted in Cambodia.

After more than a year embedded within active trafficking networks, Earth League International investigators documented how some of the Lower Mekong's most powerful wildlife traffickers operate, exposing the people, supply chains, corruption, and criminal networks driving this global trade.

During this webinar, we'll reveal:
🐅 The two largest wildlife traffickers ELI has encountered to date
🌍 How their operations span Africa, Europe, Russia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia
🔎 The intersection of wildlife trafficking, organized crime, corruption, and scam compounds
🎥 Exclusive firsthand insights from ELI's undercover investigations

📅 Wednesday, July 1
🕘 9:00 AM ET
🕕 6:00 PM ET
📍 Online via Zoom

Wildlife trafficking isn't just a conservation issue—it's a global organized crime issue.
Don't miss this exclusive look inside one of the most significant wildlife crime investigations ever conducted.

🔗 Register here: https://forms.gle/xT3PVinTq6ZSF2CL8

06/26/2026

What can be learned by sitting face-to-face with some of the Lower Mekong's biggest wildlife traffickers?

Join Earth League International on Wednesday, July 1st, as we unveil the findings of our latest report, Operation SANDOKAN: Unmasking the Lower Mekong's Biggest Wildlife Traffickers.

After more than a year of undercover investigations inside wildlife trafficking networks across Cambodia and the Lower Mekong, our investigators obtained a rare vantage point—receiving information directly from the traffickers themselves.

In this webinar, we'll reveal:
🔎 How we identified two individuals who may be the region's biggest wildlife traffickers.
🗣️ What traffickers disclosed about their supply chains, clients, and political protection.
⚠️ How scam compounds are fueling local wildlife markets.
🔄 How criminal networks are adapting to crackdowns across Southeast Asia.
🎥 What our undercover teams witnessed firsthand while embedded inside active trafficking networks.

Wildlife trafficking is not an isolated conservation issue. It is deeply connected to transnational organized crime, and understanding and investigating these networks from the inside is critical to disrupting them.

Two sessions available:
📅 Wednesday, July 1st
🕘 9:00 AM ET
🕕 6:00 PM ET
📍 Online via Zoom

Register here: https://forms.gle/xT3PVinTq6ZSF2CL8

06/23/2026

Join us on Wednesday, July 1st, 2025, for an exclusive webinar as we present the main findings from our latest report, Operation SANDOKAN: Unmasking the Lower Mekong’s Biggest Wildlife Traffickers.

After more than a year of undercover investigations inside wildlife trafficking networks across Cambodia and the Lower Mekong, our teams uncovered how some of the region’s most powerful criminal actors operate—and how wildlife trafficking intersects with organized crime.

During this webinar, we’ll discuss:
🔎 Two Persons of Interest (PoIs) who may be the biggest traffickers in the region
🌍 Their supply chains, clientele, and political protectors
⚠️ The role of scam compounds in driving local wildlife markets
🔄 How criminal networks are adapting as the landscape changes across Southeast Asia
🎥 What our undercover teams witnessed firsthand

We will be offering two sessions to accommodate varying time zones:

📅 Wednesday July 1st
🕘 9 AM ET
🕕 6 PM ET
📍 Online via Zoom

Wildlife trafficking is not just a conservation issue. The same actors, routes, financial systems, and corrupt protections that enable the illegal wildlife trade are also facilitating broader criminal economies across Southeast Asia.

Join us as we unpack what Operation SANDOKAN revealed. Register here: https://forms.gle/xT3PVinTq6ZSF2CL8

06/09/2026

Inside Operation SANDOKAN: Cambodia’s Hidden Domestic Demand for Illegal Wildlife

Cambodia is widely known as a transit hub for wildlife trafficking and other forms of contraband. Far less understood, however, is the scale of its domestic market for illegal wildlife products - and the elite networks driving that demand.

During Operation SANDOKAN, ELI investigators found that domestic demand for illegal wildlife in Cambodia was driven primarily by three groups: wealthy Chinese scam compound bosses, corrupt Cambodian officials and elites, and organized shopping tourism networks.

Before 2025 crackdowns, Cambodia's scam center operators- transnational organized crime syndicates that run industrial-scale cyber fraud- were among the country's top consumers of illegal wildlife products, spending heavily through trafficking networks embedded around their compounds.

One Person of Interest (POI) identified by ELI’s investigators estimated earning at least $500,000 a month from his business alone. Following enforcement actions, domestic illicit economies changed dramatically as scam center bosses were arrested or fled, notably to Burma and Laos.

These key findings challenge the common perception that Cambodia is primarily a transit hub for wildlife products destined elsewhere. Instead, through firsthand investigations, ELI documented a thriving internal market fueled by wealth, status, corruption, and impunity.

Read our full report here: https://earthleagueinternational.org/operation-sandokan-report/

06/04/2026

Inside Operation SANDOKAN: The Largest Wildlife Trafficking Duo ELI Has Ever Encountered

During Operation SANDOKAN, ELI identified what may be the most prolific wildlife trafficking pair operating not only in Cambodia, but in the entire lower Mekong region.

Known in our investigation as Cam1 and Cam2, the Cambodia-based duo operates with unprecedented global reach, supplying illegal wildlife products wholesale and retail through physical shops and online sales, exploiting trafficking routes spanning South and Southeast Asia, Africa, Europe, and Russia.

Cam1 described their supply as “endless,” assuring ELI’s investigators they could source virtually any wildlife product requested, while Cam2 describes their clientele, “We have our Chinese agent clients all over Cambodia, [...] everywhere because the online scam business parks and compounds are all around the country. These scam bosses are our big consumers.”

Cam1 and Cam2 are not small-scale traffickers operating in the margins, they are the most prolific wildlife traffickers ELI has ever encountered. Their scale, international reach, operational infrastructure, and apparent protection networks place them in the highest tier of organized wildlife crime actors operating across Southeast Asia.

Cases like Cam1 and Cam2 demonstrate why ELI’s intelligence-led approach is so critical, as ELI provides law enforcement and decision-makers with the unique intelligence that would otherwise remain inaccessible, helping drive investigations, enforcement actions, and broader efforts to disrupt transnational organized crime.

Read our full report here: https://earthleagueinternational.org/operation-sandokan-report/

06/02/2026

Today, ELI is proud to release its new report, Operation Sandokan: Unmasking the Lower Mekong's Biggest Wildlife Traffickers, a major investigative report documenting over a year of undercover intelligence operations inside wildlife trafficking networks in Cambodia, with additional collection in Laos and across the Lower Mekong.

The report is published alongside a video produced in collaboration with Wildlight, featuring exclusive undercover footage filmed by ELI’s field teams, showing the scale of the illegal wildlife trade, the criminals who run it, and the corruption that sustains it.

What makes this investigation unique is that its findings come directly from the criminals themselves. Through sustained undercover engagement, ELI investigators gained rare access to active trafficking networks, sitting across from kingpins, smugglers, logistics facilitators, and their enablers.

Among the persons of interest investigated, one trafficking duo stood out for the sheer volume, global reach, and diversity of their operations. They are the largest wildlife traffickers ELI has encountered to date and contenders for the biggest in the entire Lower Mekong region.

The investigation also revealed how wildlife trafficking converges with other forms of organized crime, including drug trafficking, timber trafficking, prostitution, money laundering, and scam compound operations.

The report and the accompanying video demonstrate why wildlife trafficking cannot be viewed as a standalone conservation issue. The same actors, routes, financial systems, and corrupt protections that enable the illegal wildlife trade are also facilitating broader criminal economies across Southeast Asia.

Disrupting these networks requires treating environmental crime as part of a larger transnational organized crime ecosystem.

📖 Read the full report: https://earthleagueinternational.org/operation-sandokan-report/

🎥 Watch the undercover video: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sl76H3D8pj0

05/20/2026

ELI is proud to share that intelligence gathered by our operatives led to the seizure of 930 live endangered turtles at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on December 10, 2025. The announcement of this seizure has been delayed until now for operational security.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service , acting on ELI's intelligence, intercepted the shipment just before the animals were to be flown to South Korea and then onward to Thailand. From Thailand, the turtles would have been smuggled into China.

The seizure dealt a significant financial blow to the trafficking network, with the shipment estimated to be worth over $7 million once resold on the Asian black market.

Among the seized animals were 20 Vallarta mud turtles (Kinosternon vogti), one of the most critically endangered turtle species on the planet, with only a few hundred individuals believed to remain in the wild .

The turtles were destined for Asian pet collectors, with the Vallarta mud turtles to be sold for up to $30,000 each in China.

The seizure was the result of Operation VALLARTA, an ELI intelligence operation targeting major players involved in wildlife trafficking and other serious crimes operating between Mexico, the U.S. and Asia.

ELI's operatives successfully infiltrated the trafficking network at all key nodes of the supply chain, from Mexico to delivery at LAX. Following the seizure, FWS coordinated the placement of the rescued turtles across multiple wildlife sanctuaries and rescue centers.

Generally, ELI does not support seizures that lack broader investigative action against the trafficking networks. In this case, with 930 live animals at immediate risk, saving their lives took priority.

ELI commends the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for their swift and professional response upon receiving ELI's intelligence. This operation is a powerful example of what becomes possible when law enforcement agencies and intelligence-driven NGOs work together.

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+15624133327

Website

http://earthleagueinternational.org/

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