NEW DELHI: The Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has directed security and law enforcement agencies to study and analyse the interrogation reports of arrested poachers and smugglers operating along India’s vast coastline and island regions to assess possible linkages of such elements with anti-national and terror-related activities, sources said on Sunday.
According to officials, the instructions were issued following multiple intelligence inputs suggesting that certain criminal elements operating through sea routes for illegal wildlife trade pose a national security threat by indulging in espionage-related activities.
A source in the MHA said, “There have been multiple intelligence reports that several networks involved in illegal wildlife trade and marine smuggling have links with foreign adversaries and may be acting as conduits for espionage, smuggling of sensitive materials and terror coordination.”
He added that several of these elements have recently been intercepted and detained by the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) and Coastal Police agencies. Following their arrests, they were intensively interrogated, and detailed reports were prepared.
The source further said, “The MHA, in its communication to security, investigative and intelligence agencies, has asked them to study and analyse such reports to assess any anti-national or terror motives.”
Sources also confirmed that certain poaching groups active along India’s eastern and southern coastlines have come under the scanner of central intelligence agencies, especially amid heightened activity near strategic islands. “Some arrested individuals have been found to be in contact with operatives linked to hostile entities,” another source said.
With the authorities now taking up the task of analysing interrogation reports of detained poachers and smugglers, security officials believe the exercise will help them identify deeper criminal and geopolitical linkages behind what may appear as isolated acts of illegal fishing or wildlife trafficking.
According to officials, a report received from the agencies revealed that on September 10, a Myanmarese dinghy allegedly carrying a large quantity of sea cucumbers, a protected marine species, capsized while attempting to evade the ICG near Coco Island in Myanmar.
Nearly 11 foreign poachers jumped into the sea to save their lives, they said, adding that sea cucumber smuggling, a multi-million-dollar illegal trade, has long been a concern for Indian authorities, as proceeds from the crime are suspected to fund transnational criminal networks.
Indian agencies are reportedly alarmed over a new trend of convergence among wildlife crime, cross-border smuggling and potential terror activities, which they believe could lead to a hybrid threat to national security.
“Smuggling routes used for wildlife trade are increasingly being exploited for moving contraband, arms and even for surveillance activities near sensitive coastal installations,” an intelligence source said.
