KARACHI: Meat from over 4,000 turtles worth US$6 million was discovered at Karachi port where it was labelled as fish meat and being shipped to an unidentified Hong Kong importer, as per an official source.
The Pakistani customs seized the huge shipment of illegal freshwater turtle meat. The official said, “This is the biggest-ever consignment of turtles seized in the history of the [Pakistani] customs.”
“We will continue to take stringent enforcement action and cooperate with other law enforcement agencies to combat sea smuggling activities,” a spokesman for the Hong Kong Customs and Excise Department said. Demand for turtle meat in China and Thailand threatens the protected black spotted turtle, also known as the black pond turtle, which is found in the Indus River.
It is classed as risk from trade by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). It was reported that about 200 black spotted turtles were smuggled from Pakistan into China’s Xinjiang autonomous region in June of last year.
