Nearly 900 suspects arrested in Interpol anti-wildlife trafficking operation

Nearly 900 suspects and 1,300 illicit products were seized in a global anti-wildlife trafficking operation, International police (Interpol) said in a statement on Thursday, a day before the World Wildlife Day.

Codenamed "Thunderbird", the three-week operation was carried out between Jan. 30 and Feb. 19 this year.

It involved police, customs, border agencies, environment, wildlife and forestry officials from 43 countries and territories, said Interpol based in Lyon, France.

So far, 370 investigations were carried out, which have already led to 89 individuals being jailed with terms ranging from several days to seven years, according to Interpol.

Interpol said the intelligence and data collected from the operation will be compiled, analyzed and used as guidance in future national, regional and international enforcement efforts.

"Wildlife trafficking has surged in recent years... Simply put, criminals are helping themselves to the environment's precious resources without a care for the cost to our planet," said Jurgen Stock, Interpol's secretary general.

"The success of this operation is a demonstration of what can be achieved by transnational law enforcement collaboration, and the resolve of countries to tackle environmental crime," he added.

A joint Interpol-UN Environment report published in June 2016 estimated the value of all forms of environmental crime all over the world as between 91 to 258 billion U.S. dollars.

However, these figures are expected to increase with current estimates showing environmental crime growing at a rate of 5 to 7 percent annually, according to Interpol. Endit