TURA, April 24: The need to curtail wildlife crimes and bring the accused to justice to ensure national security was one of the critical points raised during a special workshop in Tura on Monday to raise awareness about wildlife crimes.

The special programme held in Tura district auditorium raised one important issue-that of wildlife crimes like poaching and how it can lead to a threat to national security due to nexus between poachers, smugglers, arms dealers, militants and even drug smugglers.

This one day workshop was organized by the office of the deputy Inspector General of Police for Western Range (Garo Hills) in association with Aaranyak NGO and around 200 participants from different departments and organizations, police, forest department personnel, village defense parties and village Nokmas attended.

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The DIG of police Western Range C V S Reddy inaugurated the workshop and raised the issue of poaching and other wildlife crimes that take away crucial biodiversity of any area.

Senior forest and wildlife officials, including Divisional forest Officer for West, South West and South Garo Hills districts graced the occasion providing valuable information.

One of the highlights of the discussion was a speech by former member of the National Board of Wildlife and the founder of Aaranyak Dr Talukdar who laid emphasis on synergized efforts for conservation of wildlife and prevention of wildlife crimes which poses a threat to national security because of the nexus between arms smugglers, drug cartels and militants.

Talukdar also pointed out that successful conservation of wildlife species leads to conservation of habitats and thereby the biodiversity of the area.

Environment lawyer Ajoy Kumar Das brought to the fore the key clauses of wildlife, forest and environment laws, particularly the all important wildlife Protection Amendment Act 2022.

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