Wildlife product seizures go up 90%
Alipurduar in West Bengal is the main hub of the wildlife smuggling
The seizures of wildlife products by the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) have gone up by 90 per cent till August in comparison to the seizures in 2014.
The SSB has seized products worth `187.89 crore this year against `2.21 crore three years ago. The SSB is tasked with guarding India’s borders with Nepal and Bhutan.
These products were seized from 93 smugglers against those caught in 2014. A major reason behind the SSB’s success in its drive against wildlife crimes was a constant
watch on the smuggling of endangered species like Tokey Gecko Lizards and prohibited items like snake venom, bones and skin of tigers and leopards, elephant tusks/ivory, rhino horn and deer skin and deer meat, etc.
In the recent past, the SSB apprehended snake venom worth `100 crore in West Bengal, which happens to the be the most wildlife-crime prone state with 125 cases followed by UP with 54 cases. Sources said Alipurduar in West Bengal is the main hub of the wildlife smuggling from where 98 cases had been reported followed by Bahraich (15 cases) and Balrampur (15) in UP, Udalguri (14) in Assam, Jailpaiguri (12) and Darjeeling (10) in West Bengal. The illegal trade also includes the body parts of dead animals like rhino horns, leopard skin and paw, deer horn and skull and elephant trunk.
The data assessed by this newspaper suggests that the price of the seized products has shown a massive increase to the tune of `11.16 crore and `46.62 crore with the arrest of 43 and 70 smugglers in 2015 and 2016, respectively. In 2017, the SSB team seized wild life products worth `187.69 crore from 93 smugglers in 82 cases.
Senior officials say that in last two to three years, Tokey Gecko catchers have become active in Assam, West Bengal, Uttarakhand and Bihar. Tokay Geckos (Gekko Gecko) are being caught illegally and trafficked from this region to Southeast Asian countries, where many people believe that medicines made from gecko meat can cure diseases such as AIDS and cancer.