Wildlife crime bureau can’t access call details

Live Mint , Thursday, January 03, 2013
Correspondent : Neha Sethi
New Delhi: The home ministry has rejected the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau’s demand for access to phone call details of suspected poachers and traders in illegal products, raising a debate about the effectiveness of the agency.

While the home ministry cited legal reasons for its decision, experts said the bureau had been rendered powerless in cracking down on an illegal activity second only to drugs that’s a threat to India’s biodiversity and national security by way of being a source of funds for insurgents.

The proposal was rebuffed in a December letter from the home ministry that hasn’t been made public. There is no legal provision for such powers being granted, the home ministry said in the note, according to two government officials. The Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) can’t access call details directly, it said.

The environment secretary wrote to the home ministry thrice in 2012 in pursuit of the demand. Such information is supposed to be provided to WCCB by the Intelligence Bureau (IB), but isn’t delivered in time, according to experts and former officials.

WCCB was set up under the environment ministry in 2007 to collect and collate intelligence related to organized wildlife crime activities, but experts said it was toothless because it lacks some key investigative capabilities.

Senior home ministry officials who didn’t want to be named said the power to access call details is restricted to “state police forces, central investigating and intelligence agencies”.

Politician and animal rights’ activist Maneka Gandhi suggested that the solution could be simple.

“The bureau should be under the home ministry and not the environment ministry,” she said in a phone interview.

Gandhi said WCCB needs to be taken seriously because it has been set up through an act of Parliament. Besides, “wildlife crime deals in more money than guns or heroin,” she added.

The government, on the other hand, already accused of trying to curb free speech on the Internet, needs to show that it takes the privacy of individuals seriously.

The ease with which investigative agencies access calls and bug phones, besides allowing recordings to be leaked, came under attack in 2010 when corporate lobbyist Niira Radia’s conversations became publicly available.

Yet, another investigative agency seeking such powers raises the suspicions of rights groups.

Giving WCCB access to call details wasn’t the solution, said Gopal Krishna, s member of the Citizens Forum for Civil Liberties.

“The intelligence or law-enforcement agencies should be liable and should be held accountable for providing all the information sought by WCCB on time,” he said. “Also, there should be penalties for not giving the information on time.”

Kartick Satyanarayan, co-founder of not-for-profit Wildlife SOS, said the enforcement agency shouldn’t be toothless.

“If the government wants it to be effective and objectives need to be met, then they need to be given the necessary support,” said Satyanarayan, who was also part of the environment ministry’s advisory group when the bureau was set up. He also added that the bureau didn’t have enough people.

Poachers and illegal wildlife dealers generally operate through a global network that smuggles parts or living flora and fauna from one region to another.

“If WCCB is given the power to get call details of even one person, then it may help them understand crime spread over (a) network,” said Ramesh Pandey, a former WCCB official.

IB isn’t able to deliver information fast enough to be of any use, he said.

“The details...should be provided at the time of the operation,” he said. But the agency has its own cases to pursue, so information about “call details takes even a month”.

An environment ministry official who didn’t want to be identified said call details were a crucial part of surveillance.

“The intelligence agency has its own priorities and they give the information as per their convenience. Processing gets delayed, so all actions also get delayed. This is not only a problem for WCCB, but forest and wildlife departments at the state level also face problems. We definitely feel handicapped by this,” the official said.

Such information is useless when its delayed, said Jagdish Kishwan, former additional director general of forests (wildlife), environment ministry.

“The details become useless, because by then criminals move and change their location. It is just a matter of hours which can make a difference. But the home ministry has said the bureau can only get these details through the Intelligence Bureau, and though they help, the time taken is too long and then that information is good only for records,” he said.

WCCB’s ineffectiveness could become a matter of national security. Recent reports have suggested that insurgent groups are seeking to fund their activities through poaching and trade in illegal wildlife products. The Maoist insurgency has been identified as India’s greatest internal security threat by the Prime Minister.

A recent World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) report said illicit wildlife trafficking compromises the security of countries.

“Much of the trade in illegal wildlife products is run by criminal groups with broad international reach, and the profits can be used to finance civil conflicts and terrorist-related activities,” it said. “Illicit wildlife trafficking is also linked to other forms of illegal trafficking and money-laundering.”

Wildlife crime is ranked second in value after narcotics globally, according to the WWF report.

“Illegal wildlife trade can be valued at around $25 billion globally. India is a source country for illegal wildlife trade since we have a lot of biodiversity. Assets are poached and sent out of our country and its links with narcotics crime can also be traced,” Pandey said.

 
SOURCE : http://www.livemint.com/Politics/ZNPvVm8xfSMvahY3v2iAXI/Wildlife-crime-bureau-cant-access-call-details.html
 


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