Three Chinese among 12 sent to jail for bid to smuggle out turtles

Karachi

A judicial magistrate on Saturday remanded three Chinese nationals and nine Pakistanis to the prison for 14 days for allegedly smuggling freshwater, black pond turtles.

The court also allowed the Sindh Wildlife Department to immediately release the confiscated turtles into their habitat.

The accused, including three Chinese nationals who are real brothers, were arrested by the Sindh Wildlife Department on Friday night from two different locations in Karachi when a team of officials, led-by Deputy Sanctuary Warden Adnan Hamid Khan, raided a bungalow in DHA Phase VI and confiscated 780 freshwater, black pond turtles from their possession.

“All the 12 accused were produced before Judicial Magistrate II in the Malir Courts. We sought their custody for investigation but the court sent them to jail for 14 days. We also managed to get a release order for the confiscated turtles, which would be released to their habitat in the Indus River near Guddu and Sukkur Barrages,” SWLD official Adnan Hamid Khan told The News.

He said the arrested Chinese nationals, namely Chaolei Kang, Ziaoyo Kang and Sheng Kang, were real brothers and had collected the freshwater black pond turtles for smuggling out to Malaysia, where they were used for preparation of traditional Chinese soups and traditional medicinal uses.

The other arrested accused sent to jail were Babar Wasim, Muhammad Yasin, Abad Hussain, Umer Zia, M Arsalan, Tauseef Ahmed, Imran Ali, Ahmed Khan and Sachey Dinno, he added.

“Several attempts have been foiled recently by the wildlife department officials in the recent months to smuggle out freshwater turtles while hundreds of turtles were found from different locations in Karachi after the smugglers felt the pressure by the authorities and got rid of the freshwater turtles.

“The consignment seized yesterday by us and the accused arrested in smuggling out our wildlife, is a great success and even Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif took notice of this seizure and asked the department to take stern action against the perpetuators of the crime,” the wildlife department official maintained.

Smuggling of such a large number of turtles carries a penalty of around Rs68 million in addition to jail term but experts believe that the laws should be made tighter to prevent the smuggling of the endangered wildlife from Pakistan.

WWF-Pakistan Director General Hammad Naqi Khan appreciated the Sindh Wildlife Department for confiscating such a large quantity of turtles, saying wildlife trade of freshwater turtles, particularly in black pond turtles is escalating with every passing day in Pakistan and about 850 black-spotted turtles have so far been confiscated by the law enforcement agencies during 2016 on different occasions.

“The WWF-Pakistan, therefore, expects that the relevant law enforcement agencies will conduct a thorough investigation to unveil shadowy networks behind this lucrative and transnational crime in Pakistan,” he said, adding that the legal action and penalties against the offenders should be aligned with the Pakistan Trade Control of Wild Fauna and Flora Act 2012 to set an example for others involved in the similar criminal activities.

“A revision of the Sindh Wildlife Protection Act is therefore critical to give a proper coverage to the illegal wildlife trade and enhance penalties against the wildlife traffickers.”