Cross-border tiger poaching syndicate uncovered with smartphone data

A car-for-hire in Thailand picked up two Vietnamese passengers carrying a suspicious package. The driver discreetly alerted local police who soon stopped and searched the vehicle, uncovering a hidden tiger carcass. What would have been a typical arrest of a poacher, turned out to be a discovery of a much larger and coordinated poaching operation that spanned at least three countries.

2 main challenges:

• Analyze geotagged media, communication records to find poachers and where the coordinators originated from.
• Uncover cross-border tiger poaching syndicate.