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Journalism of Courage
There is an urgent need to bridge the gaps in probing wildlife crime as only three states have accorded the requisite general consent to carry out investigations under the wildlife act,a top CBI officer said on Friday. To take up any case in the states,the CBI needs consent from the state government or the direction of the courts to register and probe the cases.
Speaking at an Interpol event here,CBI Joint Director (Economic Offences) O P Galhotra said,In the interest of protection of wildlife and wider public interest,there is an urgent need to convince the 14 state government which are home to tigers to accord such general consent empowering CBI to carry out investigations.
Currently,only three state governments namely Uttarakhand,Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh have accorded the requisite general consent to carry out investigation under section 50 (1) of Wildlife Protection Act, he said.
Environment and Forest Minister Jayanthi Natarajan,who was present at the valedictory ceremony of the five-day programme on Asian Big Cat Related Crimes organised by Interpol and CBI,said,There is evidence to suggest that some gangs involved in illegal wildlife trade have links with terrorist organisations.
We must not forget that this (illegal wildlife trade) is big business. Wildlife is trafficked much like illegal drugs and arms and therefore by very nature it is difficult to obtain correct figures of value of this trade. It runs into hundreds and millions of dollars, she said.
In addition to elephants and tigers which are killed for ivory and skin and bones respectively,countless animals are being over exploited. Corruption and weak judicial system allow the criminal network to exploit wildlife as it is a low risk and high return business for them, she said.
She added that international illegal wildlife trade is estimated to be about $10 billion annually.
The existence of illegal wildlife trade undermines efforts made by a country to protect their natural resources. Recent evidence points at,as the CBI must be knowing,some of the networks are linked with terror groups, she said.
Natarajan assured the CBI that she would look into the concerns of the agency which has to take sanction from the state governments before probing wildlife crime cases which are spread across state borders.
