RECORDER REPORT

KARACHI: The WWF-Pakistan on Thursday appreciated the Sindh Wildlife Department’s efforts and law enforcement agencies for clamping down on illegal wildlife traffickers in the province.

According to the Sindh Wildlife Department, a coordinated raid was carried out with law enforcement agencies in Thatta last Tuesday, Aug 30, 2016 and arrested one person said to be the ringleader and supplier of wildlife derivatives.

In the successful raid, police seized an illegal consignment of Indian flap-shelled turtles and live snake meat intended for sale at local restaurants. The Sindh Wildlife Department believes the offender caught on Wednesday, a supplier of wild reptiles captured to be trafficked and smuggled to different East Asian countries and is under investigation at the moment.

Senior Director Programmes, WWF-Pakistan, Rab Nawaz said, “This event is an important achievement by law enforcement agencies in unveiling shadowy networks behind this lucrative and transnational crime in the country.”

He said that the raid and arrest of a ringleader should be taken as an opportunity to unearth supply chains of the wildlife illegal trade, besides highlighting that the penalties should be raised on wildlife crimes and improve the laws to reduce trafficking.

in the Sindh Wildlife Protection Act is, therefore, critical, so that proper coverage is given to illegal wildlife trade and penalties are enhanced to discourage this crime,” he said, adding the freshwater turtles were protected under the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Punjab wildlife protection Acts. In Sindh, he said that illegal trade continued despite revision in the Wildlife Act.

Rab Nawaz said that the National Plan of Action (NPoA) had developed in collaboration with the Ministry of Climate Change through a stakeholder consultation process. “This NPoA includes recommendations to improve and strengthen existing legislations dealing with wildlife trafficking in Pakistan to eliminate loopholes and impose sufficiently high penalties for wildlife crimes,” he added.

WWF-Pakistan has also helped built capacities of over 200 representatives of law enforcement agencies covering the key aspects of illegal wildlife trade. Wildlife information desks are also being set up in collaboration with the Civil Aviation Authority and provincial wildlife departments to increase vigilance over wildlife traffickers at the important exit points of the country.

Illegal wildlife trade has been recognised as the second biggest threat to wildlife after habitat destruction and is estimated to generate USD 23 billion annually. Wildlife trafficking also undermines state authority, impacting national and global security and socioeconomic development and therefore, governments across the world are making a concerted effort to reign in this destructive industry.

This is the very reason why the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) recognizes wildlife crime as the third largest transnational crime after drugs and human trafficking, the WWF-Pakistan said.