Assam: Pangolin Smuggling to China Surges After Rhino Poaching Declines
7 Sep 2019
The
global focus on the smuggling of rhino horns and tiger parts from India
to China has led to a drop in smuggling, but that has been replaced by
a surge in the trafficking of smaller species like pangolins and geckos.
Pangolins
caught dead or alive here and in other parts of India are being
trafficked to China’s Yunnan province via Burma, which shares a porous
1,600km border with northeast Indian states like Arunachal Pradesh,
Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram.
The Wildlife Crime Control Bureau
(WCCB) in Assam has seized 10 live pangolins in the last three years
from northeast Indian states. In the last seizure in June, undercover
agents fixed a deal with smugglers to buy a live pangolin for six crore.
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