Smugglers trafficking rhino horns with impunity: report

Subject : Environment

Context-

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.

Report on Rhino trafficking-

Wildlife Justice Commisssion (WJC) has prepared the document titled ‘‘Executive Summary of the Rhino Horn Trafficking as a Form of Transnational Organised Crime (2012-2021): 2022 Global Threat Assessment’ with the support of ‘World Wildlife Fund for Nature (WWF)’ and presented the report at the Conference of Parties organised by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).
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.

Major findings of the report-

The report said six countries and territories have dominated the rhino horn trafficking routes from the source to the destination locations although more than 50 countries and territories were implicated in the transnational crime.
These countries were South Africa, Mozambique, Malaysia, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Vietnam, and China.
The investigation has led to the “prolific” Vietnamese and Chinese criminal networks driving the trafficking of the horns throughout the supply chain.
The use of online trade, social media platforms, and instant messaging apps has increased substantially to become the most important channel through which rhino horn is distributed in the illegal trade.