KARACHI: The Sindh High Court (SHC) on Thursday barred a judicial magistrate from hearing the turtles smuggling case until further orders.
A division bench, led by SHC Chief Justice Maqbool Baqar, also issued notices to the interior and climate change secretaries, the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) chairman, the Sindh chief, home and wildlife department secretaries.
The World Wide Fund for Nature and other non-governmental organisations moved the court against the federal as well as provincial authorities for their failure to take action against those involved in the smuggling of turtles.
Advocate Faisal Siddiqui, representing the petitioners, submitted that smuggling of turtles and tortoises, particularly black spotted turtles, had escalated in the past two years.
Recently, 218 fresh water black spotted turtles, which were being smuggled to Thailand, were confiscated at the Karachi airport. Later, the customs officials arrested the alleged smuggler and handed him over to the Sindh Wildlife Department. However, the alleged smuggler was later released by court on bail.
