Myanmar primary route for Assam rhino horns reaching China: Report

The Indian Express , Wednesday, September 07, 2016
Correspondent : Samudra Gupta Kashyap
Even as Assam has been struggling to put an end to poaching of one-horned rhinos in Kaziranga and other national parks in the state, a latest report released by IUCN has said that Myanmar has emerged as the most important route for smuggling out rhino-horns from the state en route to China.

Cross-border trade into Myanmar has become the primary route for rhino horns from Assam, with the horns finally finding their way to China through Kachin and Shan states. The IUCN report particularly described Myanmar’s Shan state as a “notorious backdoor wildlife trafficking hub” through which animal parts, including rhino horns find their way into China.

“In 2015, four rhino horns were also seized in the Muse township of Shan state on the Myanmar border with China, the suspected end-use destination, and in Manipur, India, another rhino horn was seized the same year at the Khudenthabi check point on the Myanmar border. Rhino horns have also been observed for sale in Mong La, another border enclave in Myanmar’s Shan state that functions as a notorious ‘backdoor’ wildlife trafficking hub to China,” the IUCN report said.

The report cited a previous finding according to which most rhino horns from Assam used to earlier move first to Nepal then on to China, with only about one-tenth of the traffic crossing the Indo-Myanmar border. But, with Nepalese law enforcement efforts becoming more stringent in recent years, the route has changed, it said.

It said a joint operation of Nepalese army and special police in October 2013 dismantled a major rhino poaching network and arrested a major Kathmandu-based trader who allegedly ran a cross-border smuggling enterprise from Nepal to Tibet. This gang had reportedly killed 12 rhinos over six years in Nepal. In December 2013, Interpol issued a Red Corner Notice at Nepal’s request for a rhino poacher wanted for killing 15 rhinos in Chitwan National Park and sentenced him in absentia to 15 years in prison, the IUCN report said.

The IUCN also pointed out that shorter jail terms to persons convicted in rhino poaching cases was also one reason behind rise in poaching. Two poachers convicted in killing a rhino in Orang National Park in Assam in 2011 were sentenced to only two years of imprisonment, while a woman and her son convicted in another case in Kaziranga National Park in 2014 were given only five years rigorous imprisonment, the report said.

While as many as 240 rhinos have been killed by poachers in Assam since 2001, altogether 661 poachers were arrested in the same period. But most of these poachers are either out on bail, or have already come out after serving their jail terms to only return to their old path.

 
SOURCE : http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/myanmar-primary-route-for-assam-rhino-horns-reaching-china-report/
 


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