WWF UK is absolutely over the moon that ‘Operation Tram’, INTERPOL’s targeting of the illegal trade in medicines that contain protected wildlife products, has seized millions of pounds worth of illegal medicines. The contraband, worth more than 10million Euro’s, has resulted in many arrests across the globe during the international operation.
‘Operation Tram’ was the outstanding work of wildlife enforcement authorities, police, customs and specialized units from 18 countries across all five continents that ran between 1st – 28th February 2010, and is one of the biggest seizures of illegal medicines containing endangered animal and plant species ever.
WWF-UK’s wildlife charity trade advisor, Heather Sohl, said –
Given that this crosses many borders, co-ordinating effective efforts to tackle the illegal trade in wildlife is not easy. However, this UK-inspired operation proves what’s possible. It’s great to see 18 countries all working simultaneously to investigate and curtail the trade in traditional medicines containing threatened species. This can be a blueprint for future action on other areas of illicit wildlife trade too.
During the month-long operation, large amounts of medicines containing ingredients such as tiger, bear and rhinoceros were discovered by investigating groups of individuals and companies. Hopefully this will put a big dent into the resources of what is a truly horrific trade.
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