In yesterday’s edition of the Daily Grist, we reported on the problem of international environmental crime. Today we’re reporting on a guy who thinks he’s got the solution. Frank Madsen, an advisor to the European Union on illegal logging, a former Interpol detective, and a former head of security for U.S. drug company Bristol-Myers Squibb, wants to create an international Environmental Crime Intelligence Unit. The unit would work closely with national environmental agencies as well as with Europol, Interpol, and nongovernmental organizations, but would have the cross-border power Madsen says is currently lacking in the fight against environmental criminals. The unit would conduct stake-outs, surveillance, and discreet detective work to track down smugglers, dumpers, and illegal loggers and build watertight cases against them for prosecution by national governments.
