Designated as one of the 34 biodiversity hotspots in the world, Sri Lanka’s wealth of natural resources has also attracted the attention of unscrupulous elements who attempt to rob the country in many ways. Birds’ nests, endemic water plants, butterfly cocoons, undersize shipments of chank are among the recent spoils nabbed by the vigilant eyes of the Customs’ Biodiversity Protection Unit.
Set up in 1993 as a small task force, the Biodiversity Protection Unit (BPU) of the Sri Lanka Customs has been doing a commendable job in combating environmental crime with its limited resources. “This is the first Biodiversity Protection Unit of a customs in the world,” said its head, Samantha Gunasekara. The concept of establishing a special unit to handle biodiversity-related crime was born a long time ago, he says, explaining how after much effort, he started the unit in 1993. A series of eye-opening raids soon highlighted the scale of environmental crimes that threatened Sri Lanka’s valued biodiversity
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