KARACHI: Customs Court Judge Syed Faiz Rasool Rashdi has granted after arrest bail to 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, and Daniyal Rahman son of Muhammad Shakeel who are involved in a case pertaining to the smuggling of donkey hides worth Rs 1,246,50,000 from Lahore to Karachi to be smuggled to China.
During the hearing, suspects were brought before the court along with their counsels, who filed bail applications and argued that their clients were innocent and were falsely booked in this case, therefore, court may grant them bail till final verdict of this case.
After the arguments, the court granted them bail against the surety of Rs 100,000 each and directed them to appear before the court on the next date of hearing.
According to the prosecution, local police recovered 4,986 donkey hides’ which were put inside 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 accused 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 investigation and 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 reasons, China has become major importer of donkey hides. “A large numbers of donkey hides are being export 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, he makes all the dealing and also responsible for investment and sending consignment outside the country.
It may be mentioned here that accused Muhammad Bilal son of Salamat Ali, Muhammad Farooq son of Muhammad Qasim and Muhammad Rafique alias Rafi are absconders in this case and court has issued their non-bail able warrant.
