Japanese held in Brazil over biopiracy in Amazon forest
Copyright 2001 Kyodo News
August 17, 2001
By Lenilson Ferreira
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil, Aug. 17 - The Brazilian federal police said Friday they have arrested a 56-year-old Japanese man on suspicion of masterminding illegal trade of species in Amazon rain forest.
The police arrested Shoji Hashimoto on Thursday after 40 days of investigations which began when locals denounced the illegal capture of Amazon fauna species. He was released early Friday after paying bail equivalent to 10 dollars.
The police seized some 2,000 dead insects, including butterflies, under his possession, but the federal environmentalist agency Ibama said 7,000 insects were seized including rare butterflies and bugs.
Hashimoto was not available to comment on the charges against him because he has spent most of the day at federal police headquarters in Manaus to supply further information for the police with the assistance of his lawyer.
The police said official investigations may take from six months to a year.
According to the police, Hashimoto denied he captured the insects and claimed they belong to the Museum of Natural Sciences whose construction he financed in 1987.
The museum is based in Manaus, the main city of the Amazon rain forest region, and is located in an area where most of the local Japanese community reside.
Hashimoto told the police the insects he captured were uniquely displayed at the museum which is a tourist attraction, but has failed to explain why in some cases he had 10 bugs of the same species.
'Museums usually keep large amounts of animal species even of the same type either as a technical reserve or to conduct scientific research,' museum official Rikio Ishizawa, 54, told Kyodo News.
Ishizawa is in charge of the museum's fish section and has denied it trades fauna species of the Amazon forest. 'Whenever tourists express their desire to buy insects or butterflies, we tell them the Brazilian environmentalist legislation does not authorize this practice,' he said.
He confirmed that Hashimoto does not possess the federal license which is necessary to research or capture species of Amazon fauna and flora.
'Hashimoto has alleged he has brought some bugs from Colombia to display them at the museum,' police officer Nivaldo Farias de Almeida, 36, said.
'They used highly sophisticated equipment, including a metal structure which features an elevator to lift people 40 meters above the ground,' de Almeida told Kyodo.
The police believe the metal structure was employed to catch insects at the top of the trees with bait.
The area around the metal structure is signposted as dangerous because of high voltage electricity wires, police said.
According to the police, Hashimoto said he used the metal tower to take pictures and film Amazon insects and butterflies for a site he planned to inaugurate on the Internet.
'We suspect they would use the Internet site to advertise and sell the insects around the world,' de Almeida said.
Hideaki Nakashita, the engineer in charge of the construction and maintenance of the tower and elevator was previously connected with environmental crimes, according to local daily newspaper A Critica.
The newspaper said Hashimoto and Nakashita hired several natives to capture insects and paid them the equivalent of 2 dollars per bug.
Although Hashimoto can speak Portuguese, the federal police have requested that the local Japanese consulate supplies an interpreter for the official hearing.
The police have conducted the investigation with the support of the federal environmental agency and the National Institute of Amazon Research (Inpa), linked to the Amazon Federal University.
Hashimoto, who describes himself as an 'amateurish entomologist,' has a permanent visa to live in Brazil where he arrived in 1975.
'Studying insects is my hobby. I have identified several species of Amazon bugs including some which experts had never reported before,' the newspaper quoted him as saying.
The police said the technological sophistication of the equipment Hashimoto used in the forest has been rarely reported in the region.
'We are sure this is not the job of amateurs because of all the sophistication we have found out,' de Almeida said.
Species of titanus gigantus and acrocynus longimanus have been found among the insects in Hashimoto's possession, according to the police.
'These insects are the primary target of traffickers because they are very big and feature attractive red and black colors,' entomologist Elisabeth Franklin said.
Hashimoto and Nakashita may face charges of biopiracy and illegal import of technologic equipment, according to the federal police.