Assam's international airport a hub for smuggling wildlife products?

Shillong: Assam's Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport appears to have become one of the main transit points for smugglers to transport wildlife products to China and Far East Asia.
In less than a week, customs seized tiger skeletons and pangolin scales worth more than Rs.5 crore (over a million dollars) from the airport.
"From the frequent seizures, Guwahati has become the main hub for smugglers to tranship endangered wildlife products to China and the Far East via Myanmar," North East Customs Commissioner S.R. Baruah said.
India shares a 1,600-km unfenced border with Myanmar.
The modus operandi used by the smugglers has made the customs authorities rethink their strategy afresh.
Customs sleuths Sunday seized from the airport another Royal Bengal Tiger skeleton and 271 kg of pangolin scales - 146 kg from Berhampur in Orissa and 125 kg from Dimapur (Nagaland).
"They (smugglers) have opted to tranship the wildlife products by flights rather than using the Dimapur-Imphal road (National Highway No.39) mainly to evade military checkpoints," Baruah said.
On Wednesday and Thursday, customs sleuths seized a full-grown Royal Bengal Tiger skeleton from Guwahati airport along with 320 kg of pangolin scales.
21/06/10 IANS/Times of India

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Categories: Airports Jun 2010