Poacher routes take advantage of the Free Movement Regime established between India and Myanmar, which allows locals to travel freely 10 miles into either country for up to 14 days. Interestingly this particular route is also used for the narco trade in the golden triangle. Slipping five kilometres from Moreh across the border into Myanmar’s transit town Tamu, the illegal Rhino parts travel further on to Kachin and Shan states, which border China. From Assam, these Rhino parts are taken to Itanagar in Arunachal Pradesh, and then to the border town of Moreh in Manipur, a major conduit for cross-border wildlife trafficking. The syndicates hire one or two sharpshooters, either locally or from neighbouring states of Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur or Nagaland, who eventually carry out the killing or extraction of the horns and other body parts, and the syndicates then arrange for the transport and sale of these. The local villagers serve as guides and lookouts, field men for carrying supplies. Kaziranga National Park.Ĭhinese poaching syndicates begin by making contact with villagers through a “linkman” or “introducer,” a trusted contact. Wild Great one-horned rhinoceros is standing on the road in India. Today, a single horn is worth more than its weight in gold, commanding up to $264,134. Europol’s Organised crime threat assessment (OCTA) states that ‘Chinese organised crime groups, based mainly in Hong Kong, have specialised in the supply of traditional Chinese medicine products containing derivatives of endangered species.’ In the black market, rhino horn prices can fetch up to US$400,000 per kg for Asian rhino horns. Several UN reports have linked wildlife trafficking in smuggling ivory, rhino horn and shark fin, to Chinese organised crime groups, such as the Wo Shing Wo and 14K. There is speculation that poachers are recruited from among villagers by organised poaching syndicates, who supply them with sophisticated weapons to carry out illegal activity. While the poaching incident by itself is not unusual, it is the use of high-end tranquiliser guns in a region that is otherwise largely destitute. The May 9 incident involving tranquilisers goes another step ahead of recent poaching cases, in which the rhinos are being shot at point-blank range with silencer-fitted rifles. In traditional Chinese medicine the horn is crushed into a fine powder and manufactured into tablets or dissolved in boiling water and consumed orally, and despite the lack of evidence believe that rhino horn has medicinal benefits. The rhino horn is feted by the Chinese for supposed medicinal properties and fetches a very high price in international markets. Earlier this year in February the carcass of a fully-grown (around 30 years old) female rhino was recovered in Kaziranga National Park & Tiger Reserve in Assam of northeast India with the precious horn missing. In most cases when the horn of a tranquillised rhino is hacked the animal wakes and bleeds to death very painfully and slowly. ![]() During routine patrolling, officials in Assam’s Orang National Park, found the dehorned sub-adult male rhino aged around 8-10 years whose horn was cut with a sharp weapon by an expert hand. In a recent case poachers in Assam removed the horn from a rhino after tranquilising it, instead of resorting to the usual practice of first killing it. Appalling its use as a status symbol to display success and wealth is becoming increasingly common. ![]() ![]() It is an oft-stated fact that rhino horn is deemed to be an important ingredient in Traditional Chinese Medicine, and it is this demand that drives up poaching of the one-horned rhinoceros. The extremely rare and vulnerable one-horned Indian rhinoceros (Rhinoceros unicornis) was once widespread in India’s North East region, but illegal poaching has reduced its numbers to just a few thousand.
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