§ Mr. BakerTo ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent figures he has obtained in respect of seizures by Her Majesty's Customs and Excise of(a) illegal imports into the United Kingdom and (b) illegal transit through the United Kingdom of species protected under CITES. [22970]
§ Dawn Primarolo[holding answer 19 January 1998]: The following table sets out the number of items seized in respect of endangered species in the last 3 years as reported by the Commissioners of Her Majesty's Customs and Excise in their Annual Report. Customs do not hold central statistics on the numbers of endangered species 639W found illegally in transit through the United Kingdom, though these would normally be seized unless operational circumstances dictated otherwise:
Year ended 31 March Live animals and birds Plants Parts and derivatives 1995 2,305 480 29,916 1996 4,374 2,748 12,178 1997 121,411 222 2223,596 1 This figure includes 20,000 medicinal leeches. 2 This figure includes three batches of oriental medicines comprising 218,520 pills.