(PK-CH): Wildlife minister smuggling turtle meat to China?

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http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009\07\18\story_18-7-2009_pg12_9

 

 

*Turtle meat smuggling case:* Sindh wildlife minister comes clean

 

KARACHI: Sindh Wildlife Minister Daya Ram Essrani has said that the men

involved in the turtle meat smuggling case were arrested on his orders,

while denying the reports of his involvement in the case. He told Daily

Times that on Thursday he received information that a major consignment of

turtle meat was being smuggled and shifted to Cantt Railway Station, after

which he ordered the authorities to raid the consignment and arrest the

people involved. The minister said that as the wildlife department

conservator was out of city, the officials were able to successful transport

the meat out, that too using an official car. “According to the Wildlife Act

1972, the wildlife department lodges a First Offence Report (FOR) against

whoever is arrested in a smuggling case,” he went on to say. Essrani said

that as the consignment was confiscated late in the evening, he ordered the

acting conservator to hand the culprits to the police while adding that he

ordered an inquiry to be conducted the next day. “After we handed the

culprits to the police, they insisted that they will also lodge an FIR as

the culprits had stolen from the wildlife department,” he said. Essrani said

that he was in contact with the DPO and that he would personally look into

the matter. “The culprits have been suspended and a departmental inquiry has

been set up,” Essrani told Daily Times. fawad ali shah

 

On Fri, Jul 17, 2009 at 10:37 PM, azam24x7 <azam24x7 wrote:

 

> Will China respond to this news report please?

>

> The Pakistan Minister does not talk to the media neither does he sit

> in his office (as the reports say).

>

> Azam

>

>

>

>

> http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2009

> \07\17\story_17-7-2009_pg12_1

>

> Friday, July 17, 2009

>

> Wildlife minister smuggling turtle meat to China?

>

> Text and photos by Amar Guriro

>

> KARACHI: The railway police decided to conduct a raid on the Sindh

> Wildlife conservator’s official vehicle. They were not disappointed so

> to speak, as they discovered a heavy consignment of protected turtle

> meat. The meat was dried, boneless and all packed in four large

> cartons to be exported to the international market. Turtle meat is

> served in soups and is considered to be not only a delicacy but also

> in fact an aphrodisiac in many countries including China, Hong Kong,

> Singapore and Thailand. Just these four cartons alone could fetch up

> to Rs 1 million.

>

> The cartons were tagged with the words ‘Thai cargo’ and the bill no

> 217-16234875. They were supposed to be taken to Beijing, China. The

> railway police station lodged an FIR no 44/2009 under section 411/34

> Pakistan Panel Code (PPC) while also arresting the wildlife

> department’s junior clerk, Bashir Ahmed Shiekh, the Sindh Wildlife

> conservator’s personal driver Ghulam Nabi and Imran, a rickshaw

> driver. The 150 kg consignment was also taken into custody along with

> the official vehicle, registration no GS-4126 and Imran’s rickshaw,

> bearing resgistration no D-45521 in custody. The incident took place

> while Sindh Wildlife Conservator Husain Bux Bhaagat was not in the

> country and is in Saudi Arabia for performing Umrah. Interestingly,

> the meat was lying at the Provincial Wildlife Conservator Department,

> as it had been recovered in raids conducted over the past two years

> and was stolen from there on early Thursday morning.

>

> “We were already informed that the turtle meat was being stolen, so I

> had personally arranged for guards so that we could foil their attempt

> but the culprits had already fled from the scene, hence we contacted

> the railway police,” said Karachi District Game Warden Karachi

> Shahbuddin Burfat. He added that Bashir was a junior clerk but had

> been working as a wildlife inspector and although he has been posted

> in the Larkana district he has been working in Karachi.

>

> District Game Warden Office official Muhammad Naeem said he and his

> fellows attempted to intercept the culprits but could not manage to do

> so and they escaped with the turtle meat. “We took photos while they

> were stealing the meat,” he said, adding that the meat was supposed to

> be bought by three businessmen and they had arrived in a rickshaw but

> when the police came, they ran away. “I helped the police, as Bashir

> was running really fast but we caught him after chasing him for two

> hours,” said Naeem.

>

> Turtles are protected under the Sindh wildlife Act 1972 under which

> capturing, keeping, hunting, killing and transporting turtles in any

> form is prohibited. During the last two years, the wildlife team has

> raided several vehicles and recovered meat, which was kept at the

> provincial conservator office.

>

> The source said that Provincial Minister for Sindh Wildlife Department

> Daya Ram Essrani directed the wildlife staffers to take the meat to a

> certain place. To hide the case from media Essrani requested the

> railway police not to lodge a case and handover the recovered items

> and persons to his department while promising to conduct a

> departmental inquiry against them, but the railway police refused to

> do so. “This cannot be a departmental case as we have arrested the

> culprits red-handed while also recovering stolen property from them.

> The wildlife minister requested that we hand the culprits over to his

> department but we bluntly refused,” said Railway DSP Shafi Muhammad

> Mughal.

>

> Talking to this scribe, Bashir Shiekh did not mention any names but

> said that the high ups of the department had told him to sort the old

> and fresh meat apart and then to weight it. “I came to the Cantonment

> Railway station to weigh the meat and all of sudden the police came

> and arrested us,” said Bashir. When he was asked about the tags

> attached to the cartons as well as the information indicating that the

> meat will be exported to China, he bluntly rejected the allegation and

> said that the meat was not supposed to be exported anywhere. “It is a

> conspiracy and these tags were not on these cartoons when we were

> arrested and in fact they were glued on after we had been taken into

> custody,” he said.

>

> Even after this scribe tried to Essrani several times to get an

> official version on this case and to clarify how the turtle meat came

> out of the office in the official vehicle and whether or not the

> recovered items such as animals hides, trophies and other items are

> safe or not, he bluntly rejected to issue any statement. Essrani,

> usually does not talk to media men and despite clear directives from

> the president and the Sindh chief minister he does not sit in his

> office. “I am on vacation and my number is not saved in the minister’s

> cell. I have tried to contact him several times but have not gotten a

> response, hence I cannot issue a statement in this regard,” said Sindh

> Wildlife Department PRO Hizbullah Memon.

>

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