Cape Town, Sha'ban 28, 1437, Jun 4, 2016, SPA -- Environmental crime cost the world a whopping 258 billion dollars last year, a full 26 per cent more than the year before, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and Interpol said Saturday in a joint report. "Environmental crime is growing at an alarming pace," warned Interpol secretary general Juergen Stock. Environmental crime includes illegal wildlife trade, corporate crime in the forestry sector, illegal gold and mineral exploitation, illegal fisheries as well as the trafficking of hazardous waste and carbon credit fraud, according to dpa. Over the last decade, environmental crime increased by five to seven per cent per year, according to the report. This means that environmental crime is growing two to three times faster than global gross domestic product (GDP). It is also the world's fourth-largest criminal enterprise after drug smuggling, counterfeiting and human trafficking. The amount of money lost due to environmental crime is 10,000 times greater than the amount of money spent by international agencies on combatting it, which comes to about 30 million dollars, the report found. -- SPA 03:38 LOCAL TIME 00:38 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/w