(UK-IN): 'Profits from illegal wildlife trade fund other crimes'

[Guest guest]

Link: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/3892267.cms

'Profits from illegal wildlife trade fund other crimes'

26 Dec 2008, 0000 hrs IST

 

Detective inspector Brian Stuart who heads UK's National Wildlife Crime Unit

was inIndia <http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/3892267.cms#> with

investigative support officer Alan Roberts to talk sustainable development

with India's Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) and other agencies.

" Collaboration is the key to prevent wildlife crime, " he tells Narayani

Ganesh:

 

Why are you here?

 

There are four main reasons why we're here. To find out how best to share

information; to study the methods of intelligence gathering, storage and

dissemination; to look at law enforcement and consider deputing WCCB members

to the UK to experience the skill and expertise there.

 

What concerned you the most in India's national parks?

 

We've had many positive experiences of good work being done and evidence of

this in national parks we visited. But things are not as joined up as we

thought they would be. We made presentations to groups on methodologies to

prevent wildlife crime.

 

Ranthambore has less diversity but is more attractive to the public because

it has 36tigers<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/3892267.cms#>.

Rajaji National Park has more diversity but is not so frequently visited by

the public. There are only 20 tigers here.

 

The Delhi-Dehradun railway line runs through Rajaji Park. During 2001-06,

more than 20 elephants were hit by running

trains<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/3892267.cms#>.

The forest department has been collaborating with the railways to deal with

this problem. We're told that in the past two years, there have been no

reports of elephant casualties.

 

What improvements would you suggest?

 

The training needs of forest rangers need to be met. The WCCB in

collaboration with UK agencies could improve upon this. Also some thought

needs to be given to how the Indian authorities can make use of intelligence

gathering. Our visit this time is mostly what can be described as a

" scooping " exercise.

 

Is there a large market in the UK for wildlife products?

 

I would say that the UK is both a transit route and end-user for wildlife

products from South and South East Asia. We need to close in from both ends

(despite funding constraints for capacity-building) from where it starts in

your national parks, for instance to where it goes, and to address this

through collaboration and sustainable dialogue. Forensic analysis too

helps.

 

What do you expect from India?

 

Mainly exchange of information. We would like to forge a professional

relationship with the WCCB to prevent poaching and to apprehend traders of

wildlife products. The internet has opened up the market far beyond what it

was earlier, making policing more difficult, which is why international

cooperation is even more important than before. And often, profits from the

illegal trade are used to fund other criminal activities. In the UK, there

has been significant progress in prosecution of offenders, especially those

who trade in ivory and tiger parts.

 

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