Varanasi, Gaya used for smuggling rare tortoises, turtles

NEW DELHI: The holy cities of Varanasi and Gaya are being increasingly used for smuggling of rare tortoises and freshwater turtles, according to the wildlife trade monitoring network, TRAFFIC.

TRAFFIC officials said the final destination for these turtles, smuggled via Bangkok, is Hong Kong.

The officials pointed out at the recent arrest of suspected smugglers at Bangkok airport to establish the fact that these endangered species originated from Varanasi and Gaya.

"This previously unknown trade route for smuggling turtles from Gaya and Varanasi to Bangkok is often used by religious tourists," says Shekhar Kumar Niraj, Head of TRAFFIC in India.

A TRAFFIC release issued here said the involvement of Thailand, India and Hong Kong in illegal trade of rare tortoises and freshwater turtles was highlighted earlier this year when over a thousand specimens were confiscated from smugglers in three separate seizures.

All three seizures passed through Bangkok, with at least two involving tortoises and freshwater turtles originating from India.

On March 12, Royal Thai Customs officers at Bangkok Airport had discovered 218 Black Spotted Turtles Geoclemys hamiltonii and 54 Indian Narrow-headed Softshell Turtles Chitra indica in check-in luggage.

Niraj says that co-operation between India and other member countries of South Asia Wildlife Enforcement Network (SAWEN) is essential to combat the increasingly organized nature of wildlife crime in the region, and connect to destinations in Thailand, Hong Kong and other parts of Asia.

Chris R Shepherd, regional director for TRAFFIC in South-East Asia, said that catching the mules of the trade won't be enough to stop the organized criminal elements that are driving the regions rare tortoises and freshwater turtles to the brink.

"Seeking out and stopping the big guns that control this trade should be the real focus of enforcement action," Shepherd said.

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