Workshop conducted on wildlife crimes in city

GUWAHATI: Increasingly, airports and airlines are being used as international trafficking routes for wildlife products, and in this context, airports in the bordering Northeast India, a biodiversity hotspot, are particularly vulnerable to such trafficking, and it is imperative that airport/airline security staff be extra vigilant when detecting such goods.

The Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) and biodiversity conservation organization Aaranyak on Monday joined hands to conduct a sensitization workshop for Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel and security personnel of various airlines engaged in the Lokapriya Gopinath Bordoloi International (LGBI) Airport here on the urgent need to ramp up vigilance against burgeoning wildlife trafficking that has reached an alarming proportion across the globe posing threats to the nation.

Making a substantive audio-visual presentation on the global wildlife crime scene, routes of wildlife trafficking, various modus operandi applied by the wildlife crime racket to dodge security checks and baggage scanning in various airports, Dr Jimmy Borah, senior manager of Legal and Advocacy Division (LAD) of Aaranyak, projected the latest picture of wildlife trafficking scene to alert over 50 participants in the workshop held in the LGBI Airport about how they should pull up their socks to defeat the design of the racket of wildlife trafficking.

About 31 per cent of worldwide wildlife trafficking is driven by the desire for trophies, exotic medicines (based on superstitious beliefs), and luxury products made from wildlife parts, he said. To check the trafficking of wildlife, the CISF and airline security personnel need to be alert on air routes as well as in their checked-in luggage. During the workshop, WCCB Assistant Director Jawahar Baro presented seized wildlife items to the participants to raise awareness levels among the airline personnel, CISF personnel and security personnel, stated a press release.

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