Wildlife smuggling to India on the rise
Bangladesh has long been a ground for collecting and illegally exporting exotic animals to India
The Bangladesh-India borders have been witnessing a rapid increase in wildlife smuggling throughout the year.
Bangladesh has long been a ground for collecting and illegally exporting exotic animals to India.
The last in the line is the rescue of a rare Victoria crowned pigeon from the Gongra area of Nadia district in West Bengal by the Border Security Force (BSF) on Friday.
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The bird was smuggled from Bangladesh.
The 82 battalion of the BSF rescued the bird from alleged smugglers at the outpost in Gongra, on a tip-off from the intelligence branch, reports News18.
Earlier this month, BSF had also rescued two Albino White Peacocks from Nadia's Burnpur-Matiari border area adjacent to Bangladesh.
According to NDTV, two people had fled the spot leaving two sacks when they were challenged by BSF patrol on 3 September.
The BSF handed over the two peacocks to the local forest department of India.
On 26 August, Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) members seized 24 Siraji pigeons and 8 foreign swans from the Goga border area in Sharsha upazila of Jashore.
Just a day before that, BGB had rescued eight Cockatoos worth Tk 12 lakh from the Rudrapur border area of the same upazila. All animals were about to be smuggled into India.
In the same week, BGB rescued nine wild animals from different areas of Satkhira border on 22 August while being smuggled to India. The animals were two otters, six rabbits and one eagle.
However, no one was arrested in any of these incidents.
On 12 May, an endangered pangolin was rescued by Moulavibazar Wildlife Range from the remote hilly area of Kulaura upazila of Moulvibazar.
The alleged smuggler caught with the animal expected to illegally export the animal to India through Sylhet borders.
In January this year, another smuggler was arrested with two gekkos from the Ujan Baratia area of Karimganj upazila in Kishoreganj.
A recent report by the Wildlife Conservation Society said exotic animals in Bangladesh such as Bengal Tigers, elephants, deer, pangolins, snakes, birds, and turtles are under serious threat.
Wildlife trafficking in Bangladesh generates approximately Tk10 crore per year, the report added.
Till the end of 2019, 438 cases of wildlife trafficking were recorded by the Wildlife Crime Control Unit (WCCU) of the Bangladesh Forest Department.
According to a Hindustan Times article, BSF had seized at least 25 consignments of exotic animals till October 2020 throughout the year.
Around 14 gecko lizards, 31 cockatoos, 77 parrots and 95 pigeons were rescued in 2020.
Indian security agencies arrested 1175, 1118 and 1351 people, respectively in 2017, 2018 and 2018, along the entire stretch of the Bangladesh border, according to data presented by the Union ministry of home affairs before Parliament in March last year.
