Hyderabad: Red sanders smugglers are having a tough time doing business due to the auctions being conducted by AP forest department, a senior AP forest department official said. International buyers now have access to red sanders legally through the auctions.
The official said that smugglers were trying to halt the government auction by setting up various hurdles including approaching courts and getting the auction stayed.
He said that the government would notify the second phase of auctions in a couple of days. Conservationists, however, contended that smuggling of red sanders will continue to grow regardless of the auctions.
Dr Shekhar Kumar Niraj, country head of traffic, a joint effort of World Wildlife Fund and International Union for Conservation of Nature, said that until the Centre takes up the red sanders smuggling issue with countries like China and Japan, there would not be any major progress.
Dr Niraj said, “There is a lack of awareness among the countries importing red sanders, like China, on laws restricting the trade laid as per the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora to which they are also signatories.”
As per private estimates, the demand in China is about 3,000 metric tonnes per year which makes the business of red sanders smuggling evergreen.
Dr Niraj, who also works in association with Interpol, and the local police and forest departments, said smuggling routes are evolving and countries like Bangladesh and Burma are emerging as new transit hubs to China.
There has been a drastic rise in the number of companies claiming to be in possession of red sanders with statutory permission to sell them.
However, a forest department official warned that most of them are bogus or are selling low grade privately grown red sanders with poor resale value.
