Smugglers trafficking rhino horns with impunity: report

Prolific Vietnamese and Chinese criminal networks are driving the racket throughout the supply chain, says a global threat assessment

GUWAHATI

The seizure of rhino horns by weight has increased after 2017 despite a reduction in poaching, a global threat assessment report presented at a convention of the conservation agencies in Panama City, said.

The investigation has also led to the “prolific” Vietnamese and Chinese criminal networks driving the trafficking of the horns throughout the supply chain.

But what has alarmed the wildlife crime fighters is the audacity with which the smugglers transport the rhino horns unconcealed, indicating that the “corrupt elements” help the traffickers move the horn shipments without bothering to disguise the products.

A comprehensive analysis titled ‘Executive Summary of the Rhino Horn Trafficking as a Form of Transnational Organised Crime (2012-2021): 2022 Global Threat Assessment’, was presented at the meeting of the Conference of Parties organised by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). The 12-day meeting will end on November 25.

Supported by the World Wide Fund for Nature, the Wildlife Justice Commission (WJC) prepared the document on the rhino horn trafficking during the decade from January 1, 2012, to December 31, 2021.

The threat assessment was compiled from the analysis of 674 rhino horn seizure incidents that had occurred globally during this decade, in addition to seven years of criminal intelligence and findings from the WJC investigations into the rhino horn trafficking, conducted since 2015.