KARACHI: Customs Court Judge Syed Faiz Rasool Rashdi has sent seven suspects to the Customs Department on physical remand till May 3, 2017. The suspects were arrested for trying to smuggle donkey hides worth Rs 118.4 million from Lahore to Karachi for onward shipment to China.
During the hearing, investigation officer produced a Chinese citizen Tu-Zhong Xiao, 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 and Afshan wife of Ehtisham before the court and informed that the local police recovered as many as 4,736 donkey hides which were put inside 592 sacks. The operation took place at a shop located in Gulistan-e-Jauhar, Block-12 and handed them over to the Customs Department for FIR and further investigations.
During initial investigations, 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.
He mentioned 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.”
He said that 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.
After hearing, court sent them to customs department and directed investigation officer to produce them on next date of hearing along with progress report.
