In the first raid they confiscated over a million dollars worth of legally imported Madagascar Rosewood. Gibson was suing for its return and was confident of success.
The 2nd raid was based on even flimsier allegations and appears to be for intimidation.
My question is... where is the million dollar Madagascar Rosewood now? Is it still in federal warehouse/evidence locker or has it been stolen/sold out of federal custody?
If it’s not politically motivated, then it’s about money, theft and government corruption.
Hopefully this will be an overreach of jump the shark proportions that really backfires on these guys.
BTW, giving guns and law enforcement responsibilities to Game and Fish employees, Firemen, and other non LEO government employees invariably attracts exactly the wrong type of personality. These people are more often than not ego driven, wannabe secret agents types who love to brag about “having a gun and getting to arrest people”.
They are exactly the personality profiles that real police departments screen out during the police academy hiring procedure and /or weed out during police academy training.
I mean, seriously, do you really need to carry weapons into a reputable, long established musical instrument factory to execute a search warrant for alleged “contraband hardwood” .
Even the Nazi Gestapo would feel embarrassed to stoop to such demeaning behavior. However, criminalizing even the most trivial of life's daily routines this is the primary goal all totalitarian regimes - it's easy to control the people when all people can arbitrarily be charged with some trumped up criminal charge at any time.
Legally imported according to whom? Gibson?
It was virtually impossible to legally import Madgascar Rosewood in 2009. That may be why Gibson didn't identify the rosewood as "Madagascar" rosewood on the import papers.
Gibson didn't have the Lacey Act papers on the Madagascar Rosewood. Source
Gibson's internal emails from that era stated that "all legal timber and wood exports [from Madagacar] are prohibited because of wide spread corruption and theft of valuable woods like rosewood and ebony."
However, the employee noted that Gibson might be able to get 'grey market' Madagascar Rosewood from a particular source. That's the source that Gibson used when it imported the Madgascar Ebony without the Lacey Act papers, the Madagascar Ebony with the paperwork that unintentionally or intentionally left off the place of origin. Source.
I don't know that it's a black-and-white case that Gibson "legally imported" the Madagascar Rosewood seized in the first raid.
Remember that 2008-2009 was during the era of a political coup in Madagascar and that armed rebels were logging national forests for rosewood and ebony, and that the wood, which the Madagascar government said was illegal to sell, was being sold by the rebels by routing it through other countries.
What do you think they use over at the White House to grill those Wagyu steaks? Plain old charcoal? Naw...that just wouldn't do.