Not just the body parts of tigers, elephants and rhinos, but there has been a phenomenal spurt in illegal trade of organs of lesser known species in the country. Alarmed by such reports, Interpol will now partner with Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) to probe the trade of species such as pangolins, sea horses, sea cucumbers, mollusks, besides fresh water turtles and star tortoise. In the first phase, the two agencies would work jointly on “Operation Pangolin” to gather Intelligence inputs and identify syndicates and groups involved in the crime. The second phase would plunge into specific, time-bound operations, including arrests of people concerned. The details are being worked out in this regard, said the sources, not willing to divulge further on the proposed operation.
The estimates by TRAFFIC India, (that works against illegal wildlife trade) indicate that over 20,500 tortoises were seized in Tamil Nadu from 2000 to 2013, as compared to 2,074 between 1990-1999. Similarly, while around 7,00,000 birds become victims of illegal trade about 70,000 tonnes of sharks fins are smuggled out of the country every year. India ranks second after Indonesia in illegal trade of shark fins. As if this was not enough, on an average about 10,000-15,000 star tortoises and fresh water turtles each are smuggled out from the country every year.
Around 3,350 pangolins were poached in India between 2009 and 2013 in which several cases were reported from the North-East alone. According to sources in WCCB, pangolins and sea creatures are smuggled into East Asia and China. While pangolin scales are much sought after for making traditional Chinese medicine, shark fins are used in soup. Though awareness campaigns are being launched to spread knowledge about these species and their large-scale decimation, it is the need of the hour to identify the syndicates and the agencies involved in their smuggling, they added.
The sources added that Interpol would launch the operations after involving the Secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora and the World Customs Organisation. In 2013, the UPA Government had announced it would investigate the alleged links between terrorist organisations and wildlife crime (especially in cases of tigers and elephants) with the help of the CBI and the Interpol. However, such probes are yet to be initiated.