KARACHI: Customs Court Judge Syed Faiz Rasool Rashdi granted re-bail to suspect namely Muhammad Farooq, son of Muhammad Qasim, who was booked in a case of attempting to smuggle donkey hides worth Rs1,246,50, 000 from Lahore to Karachi to be smuggled to China.
On Wednesday, counsel for the above-mentioned suspect moved petition for after-arrest bail and argued that his client takes undertaking that he would appear before the court on every hearing, therefore, court may grant him bail. After his argument, the court granted him re-bail against surety of Rs100,000.
It needs to be mentioned here that on last date of hearing, the suspect appeared before the court, but could not satisfy the court regarding his absence. Therefore, court canceled his bail and sent him to Central Jail Karachi and directed jail authority to produce him on next date of hearing before the court.
According to the prosecution, local police recovered 4,986 donkey hides (pieces) hidden in 642 bags. The operation took place at a shop located in Gulistan-e-Jauhar, Block-12 and arrested a Chinese citizen Tu-Zhong Xiao son of Tu Shao, Syed Ehtisham Zaidi son of Syed Shamim Ahmed Zaidi, Muhammad Faisal Bhutto son of Muhammad Ibrahim, Muhammad Jumman son of Ameer Ali, Zeeshan Jan son of Patrus, Daniyal Rahman son of Muhammad Shakeel, Afshan wife of Ehtisham and absconders Muhammad Bilal son of Salamat Ali, Muhammad Farooq son of Muhammad Qasim and Muhammad Rafique alias Rafi. After the formalities, police handed over them to Customs department for FIR and further investigations.
During the investigation, it was revealed that the hides were brought illegally from Lahore to be smuggled to China. There were about eight hides in one sack and one hide is sold for approximately Rs25,000.
As per interim challan, investigation officer has informed the court that China is using donkey hides to produce medicine named Ejiao, which is useful in blood-related disease. The Ejiao is obtained from donkey’s Gilatin and owing to this reason, China has become major importer of donkey hides. “A large numbers of donkey hides are being exported to China and often illegal methods are adopted to make more profits. Due to such smuggling, Pakistan is facing shortfall in foreign exchange whereas its meat is also served to people in Islamic country.”
Tu Zhong Xiao is the master mind and main culprit in this case.
