 Reference Base  Under siege: poaching and protection of greater one-horne... |
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Menon, V., 1995. Under siege: poaching and protection of greater one-horned rhinoceroses in India. Delhi, Traffic India, pp. i-iv, 1-114
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| Location: |
World |
| Subject: |
Trade |
| Species: |
All Rhino Species |
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Trade routes from India. There have been some significant changes. A tightening up of security and a greater understanding of urgency among law enforcement officers has resulted in the dealer becoming very wary. Also, Calcutta, having become a known trade centre, has begun to be circumvented and alternative trade routes have been explored by the traders. Even by 1991, Martin was documenting slight shifts in the trade route via Calcutta. Although he still maintained that from Assam some of the horns went out to Calcutta, the Singapore connection was being slowly replaced by a Taiwanese one. In the early 1980s, Martin estimated, some Indian horn went to Singapore - the country was not a member of CITES until 1987. However, as Taiwan started spending more on rhinoceros horn, the Singapore route shifted to a Hong Kong-Taipei link, or a direct route to Taipei.
Research for this report found that the rhinoceros horn trade has largely shifted out of Calcutta today, although prominent dealers still maintain links in the city. Taking rhinoceros horn overland to Calcutta and then smuggling it outside the country is becoming an increasingly risky option. The main trade routes today all seem to operate overland out of India and then by air to Southeast Asia. As explained earlier, this is not immutable, as traders often change their modus operandi to avoid detection. The other main finding of this study relatirig to trade routes is that there are at least two distinct trader and poacher blocs, one operating in lower Assam and northern West Bengal and the other operating in central Assam. While the first operates south of Guwahati, the other controls the trade up to the border with Myanmar to the east. Field investigations showed that there is very little interaction between these two groups, and normally horns poached from a region are disposed off through the trade centre of that region. The main trade routes operating are as follows:
1. Lower Assam/West Bengal - Simla Bazaar - Siliguri - Jaigaon - Phuntsholing (Bhutan) - Paro - East and Southeast Asia.
2. Lower Assam/West Bengal - Siliguri - Nepalgaon - Kathmandu (Nepal) - East and Southeast Asia.
3. Lower Assam - Bongaigaon - Hatisar - Galegphug (Bhutan) - East and Southeast Asia.
4. Central Assam - Karbi Anglong Hills - Dimapur - Tuensana (Naga border town) - Myanmar.
5. Central Assam - Naogaon/Tezpur - Guwahati(storage) - Siliguri or Calcutta - East and Southeast Asia.
6. Central Assam - Guwahati - Silchar - Bangladesh - East and Southeast Asia.
7. Assam/West Bengal - trade centres (Guwahati, Siliguri, Dimapur) - direct purchase by East/Southeast Asian national.
8. Central Assam - Karbi Anglong Hills - Imphal - Manipuri border town - Myanmar.
Siliguri, the new sprawl in northern Bengal is fast becoming the most important centre. As it is the gateway to the north-east all transport from there to Bengal, or vice-versa, and transport to Nepal or Bhutan normally pass through this city. Thus, it is a convenient trade centre. Also, the city is more or less controlled by Marwaris who are the main tradesmen.
Dimapur on the Nagaland-Assam border is particularly important for Kaziranga horn, as it is easily accessible through the district of Karbi Anglong, where law enforcement is at a much lower level compared to other areas, and through which Nagaland is easily accessible. Dimapur is again a Marwari base in Nagaland. The horn from here is probably taken to a border town, such as Tuensang and then bartered or sold to the Myanmarese.
Guwahati has many a time sprung surprises in the form of arrests of poachers and seizures of horn, pointing to the increasing use of the city as a storage point until an alternate route can be taken. The use of Guwahati as a storage point was confirmed when the arrest of an officer of the Directorate of Economics and Statistics in the city on 22 December 1993 revealed that the five rhinoceros horns that were with him were brought in from Manas National Park. Formerly, the horns of lower Assam would usually have gone to Siliguri and Calcutta or direct across the Bhutanese or Nepalese border, but Guwahati has evidently been used as a storage point until surveillance along known trading routes is diverted, or lapses.
The recent apprehension of a Taiwanese national buying rhinoceros horns in India lends credence to the theory that some East Asian nationals have taken to coming to India themselves for the purchase of rhinoceros horn.
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