Role Of Wildlife Crime

5 Wildlife Crime:- India plays an important role in the trade in wild animals and plants which was not known ten years ago. It is shame for us to say that India is an importer, exporter and a conduit for wildlife that enters the $ 25 billion annual global trade. Before discussing about wildlife crime let us know about wildlife. The Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972 defines wildlife as "any animal, bees, butterflies, crustacea, fish and moths, and aquatic or land vegetation". The definition embraces all life forms that are wild. Now Wildlife crime is contravening any domestic or international law concerning wildlife, be it by poaching for food or fun or by killing to supply an illegal wildlife trade or by possessing illegal material or smuggling it across borders. Wildlife crime which is also referred as “Transnational Organised Crime” which includes criminal offences which directly or indirectly involve more than one country. In such transnational crime groups are involved which vary considerably in structure, strength, size, geographical range, and the scope and diversity of their operations. Operating at the international level, they usually have a complex organisational structure run by a group of people acting together to commit one or more serious crimes with the purpose of obtaining, directly or indirectly, an economic or a material benefit. "Money laundering" or the recycling of illicitly obtained money has an important place