News: More than 30,000 live animals, along with protected plants and timber, have been seized under Operation Thunder 2025.
About Operation Thunder 2025
- Operation Thunder 2025 is a major international law enforcement crackdown on illegal wildlife and forestry trade.
- The Operation is in its ninth year and is conducted annually.
- Aim: Its aim was to intercept and seize illegally traded wildlife and forest products, disrupt global supply chains, dismantle criminal networks and identify suspects involved in environmental crime
- Countries involved: It involved enforcement agencies in 134 countries.
- Leading Organizations: It is coordinated by Interpol and the World Customs Organization (WCO), with support from the International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime (ICCWC).
- Funded by:
- European Union through the ICCWC GUARD Wildlife Project
- Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, United Kingdom (UK DEFRA) through the ICCWC–UK DEFRA Project
- Norway’s International Climate and Forest Initiative (NICFI) through the LEAP Project
Note: In India, the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change acts as the coordinating agency for such global operations.
