The tale of tiger is not simply about conservation, it is also about crime
Legal Corner Icon — the image was hosted by the publisher and was not captured.POLICE and Customs heads from 13 Asian countries agreed to tighten controls and improve cross-border cooperation to curb the illegal smuggling of tigers and other critically endangered species. The accord came at the conclusion of the two-day international “Heads of Police and Customs Seminar on Tiger Crime”, which brought together top Police and Customs officers from countries that still have tigers living in the wild.
Hosted by the International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime (ICCWC), and organized by INTERPOL, in cooperation with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the World Customs Organization (WCO), and with technical and financial support from the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Secretariat and the World Bank, the Tiger Seminar objective was for participants to agree on a robust set of law enforcement-based solutions to protect tigers and other rare and highly threatened species.
The UNDOC Executive Director Yury Fedotov said, “The tale of the tiger is not simply about conservation, it is also about crime, it concerns transnational organized crime, high profits, widespread corruption, money laundering, fraud, counterfeiting, and violence.”
Kunio Mikuriya, WCO Secretary General said, “The global Customs community is firmly committed to working closely with its partners to stop criminal trafficking in endangered species and other environment sensitive goods, by ensuring more vigilant and effective border enforcement among a range of measures.”