Mumbai turned out to be one of the major regions in India for smuggling endangered and protected animal species and their body parts, a recent report by the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) disclosed.
In a first-of-its-kind report, WCCB said that the Mumbai metropolitan region (MMR) recorded 70 per cent cases of seizure of turtles, snakes, birds along with animal body parts like skin, claws, nails and bones among Maharashtra, Goa and Gujarat from 2012 to June this year. Over 200 persons had been nabbed for trafficking of animal species inside India and in foreign countries like Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia etc.
Due to Mumbai’s smooth connectively with other countries where the demand of such endangered animal species is high and often used as pet or food, the city has become the most favoured destination for illicit traders.
