The Northern Territory's snakes and lizards have become prized trophies for international wildlife collectors, fuelling a booming illegal trade and keeping authorities on the constant watch for poachers.

Key points: NT Parks and Wildlife has called for a dedicated environmental court to be established in the NT to stamp out wildlife crime

NT Parks and Wildlife has called for a dedicated environmental court to be established in the NT to stamp out wildlife crime Officials have pointed to the benefits such courts have brought to stopping the lucrative trade in other states

Officials have pointed to the benefits such courts have brought to stopping the lucrative trade in other states The Attorney-General has all but ruled out the move, saying the Government has no plans to set up a standalone court

The Supreme Court guilty plea in April of poacher Keerthi Eswaran, who was found to have illegally possessed and exported rare animal parts on the black market, including a red-tailed black cockatoo, a crocodile and an ocelot, triggered applause from the NT's Parks and Wildlife Department.

But the authority has also warned that Eswaran's offences were just the edge of a growing scourge of cross-border wildlife smuggling, and more needed to be done to properly penalise offenders.

The department's assistant director of wildlife operations, Sally Heaton, said due to the amount of illegal trade operating within the Territory, the region would benefit from a dedicated environmental court — a move the NT's Attorney-General has all but ruled out.

"NT reptiles are very popular on the international poaching [market], especially wild-caught animals," Ms Heaton said.

"We have some of the most popular reptile species for pets, for trade: people like them.

"We've got the commodity the [poachers] want, whether they're based here or not, it doesn't really matter — they're coming here to get the animals."

While the exact value of lucrative illegal wildlife trade can be difficult to ascertain, authorities have estimated it could globally be worth up to $150 billion per annum.

Some of the animal parts found during the search of Eswaran's Top End house. ( Supplied: NT Parks and Wildlife )

Call for dedicated environmental court

Ms Heaton said authorities would like to see a dedicated environmental court — like what exists in states such as New South Wales — set up in the NT to ensure poachers and other wildlife offenders have ample resources thrown at their cases to secure adequate prosecution.

"The amount of work that goes into detecting the crimes and getting enough evidence, but not have it reflected in big penalties — it can get very frustrating," Ms Heaton said.

"These are crimes, it's reflected in the legislation because they are serious matters."

Ms Heaton said a dedicated environmental court would mean "the people involved, the prosecutors, the judges, they're a lot more educated because they just do a lot of environmental crime".

"So they understand the issues around [poaching] a lot more," she said.

"If there was a dedicated court who just heard cases like that so they were able to understand that they're not victimless crimes, understand what the impacts on us as Territorians are."

Other states seeing 'big gains' in prosecution

Lizards from the Northern Territory are highly sought after by international wildlife smugglers. ( Supplied: Victorian Government )

NSW Land and Environment Court Chief Justice Brian Preston has previously written about the benefits a dedicated environment court could have on "criminal enforcement".

"Environmental crimes have their own unique characteristics, which demand special consideration," Justice Preston wrote in a 2012 paper.

"As a specialist environment court, the Land and Environment Court is better able to achieve principled sentencing for environmental offences."

Ms Heaton said other states were starting to see "big gains" through the courts.

"Especially in Victoria, where they're starting to get jail sentences for a lot of wildlife crimes," she said.

Despite this, the Territory is unlikely to follow the model of other states anytime in the near future.

Attorney-General Natasha Fyles said the Government had "no plans to introduce a standalone court for environmental offences".

Poaching market work billions annually

An illegal reptile smuggling syndicate was busted in Melbourne. ( Supplied: Victorian Government )

In March this year, an illegal reptile smuggling ring operating out of Melbourne was busted trying to export lizards wrapped in masking tape, Milo tins and in chip packets to be sold overseas.

Police charged two people with illegal possession and disposal of protected wildlife, and seized more than 150 lizards, with a street value of more than $550,000, that were intended to be sent to China and Hong Kong and sold as pets.

At the time, Iain Bruce from Victoria's Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning told the ABC that "the value of the quantity of animals that have been trafficked that we are aware of is around $550,000, and that's only what we've found".

Ms Heaton said many of the lizards uncovered in the Victorian seizure "came from remote areas of the NT".

"The Federal Government does have some figures about reptiles, and mostly they can tell us that it is our reptiles that most people are interested in and that some of the prices that they're getting overseas are pretty extraordinary," Ms Heaton said.

"What we typically find is the people who are coming to get the reptiles … are getting a shopping list.

"They're not just getting anything and saying, 'I've got this for sale'; someone has said to them, 'I want this specific thing, this snake or this lizard' and they'll go out to try and find it."

The Supreme Court will hand down its penalty for one of the most prominent recent Territory wildlife busts later this month, when Eswaran is sentenced on May 22.

He could face up to 10 years in jail.