Bid to smuggle rare lizard foiled

Wildlife department officials arrest man and seize reptile

CHAKWAL:

The staff of the Patrol Post Dalilpur foiled an attempt to smuggle a rare lizard and arrested the alleged smuggler. The seized lizard was later handed over to the wildlife department.

Assistant Sub-Inspector of Patrol Post Dalilpur, Zulfiqar Hussain, along with his staff, stopped a suspicious car while patrolling the road. The travelers, upon enquiry, mentioned their names and addresses as Taj Wali, resident of Karachi and Shafiullah Syed Jalal, a resident of Peshawar.

Upon carrying out a physical search of the car, one rare lizard was found in a box which was taken into custody, said the police, adding that the lizard is estimated to be worth Rs500,000. Subsequently, the officials of the wildlife department were called to the spot who also confirmed the illegality of the lizard.

The suspects were handed over to the wildlife department for further action. They were fined Rs53,000 and the rare lizard was also confiscated.

Meanwhile, a man was injured in an accident due to a container catching up fire at the Salt Range area of Motorway.

Meanwhile, A man suffered burns when a fire broke out in a container loaded with goods during travel from Rawalpindi to Faisalabad at the Salt Range Motorway. Police said that the container overturned in the middle of the road after catching the fire. As a result, the driver was injured while his colleague remained safe.

The Motorway Police took out the injured and sent him to the trauma center in Kalar Kahar and extinguished the fire in the container before getting the road cleared.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, August 16^th, 2022.