Guwahati, Aug 22: Airports and airlines have become part of the global routes for trafficking wildlife products across geographical frontiers and in this context the airports in the bordering Northeast India, which is a biodiversity hotspot, stand very vulnerable and it requires the airport/airline security staff to be extra vigilant to detect such trafficked items.
The Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) and premier biodiversity conservation organisation Aaranyak (www.aaranyak.org) today joined hands to conduct a sensitization workshop for Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel and security personnel of various airlines including Indigo, Spicejet, Air Asia, Vistara engaged in Lokapriya Gopinath Bardoloi 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 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 here about how they should pull up their socks to defeat the design of the racket of wildlife trafficking.
Dr Borah flagged that it was of prime importance to prevent wildlife trafficking for the very significant reasons – it poses threat to the national security because of its intricate relation with arms smuggling and terrorism, wildlife crimes can devastates tourism and thereby result in loss of income for the community as a whole and loss revue to the governments, it poses danger to environment and global health, it being an organized crime tends to induce corruption in the system and it leads to loss of tax revenue to the government.
He said about 31 per cent of global volume of wildlife trafficking which caters to the global demand for crave for trophies, exotic medicines (based on superstitious beliefs), luxury products made of wildlife parts, takes place through air routes in the checked in luggage and that demands high-level of alertness on the CISF and airlines security personnel to check trafficking of wildlife.
Assistant Director of WCCB, Jawahar Baro presented before the participants a large number of seized wildlife items to raise the awareness level of the airlines the CISF and security personnel and addressed various queries raised by the participants in the workshop.
Project officer of LAD division Aaranyak. Ivy Farheen Hussain anchored and coordinated the workshop that was graced by the commandant of CISF in the LGBI Airport Lal Mohan Thakur and the chief security officer of Adani Group, Major S S Aimol.