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Red flag indicators for wildlife and timber trafficking in containerized sea cargo

Weaknesses and loopholes in maritime supply chains are often exploited by traffickers to smuggle illegal wildlife and timber products to feed growing demand, predominantly in Asian markets. Together, TRAFFIC and WWF are supporting the shipping sector to detect illegalities passing through global waters. Legal wildlife trade is a complex business, supplying local and international demand for wildlife products across numerous industries. However, a growing, parallel illegal business is taking advantage of weaknesses in maritime supply chains to illegally transport wildlife products from source to destination markets.