Black scorpion imports: Wildlife dept reluctant to issue NOC

Dr Salahudin Ayubi says him and his partner, Dr Sajid, had obtained a licence to import scorpions into Pakistan

ISLAMABAD:

The Pakistan Wild Life Department is reluctant to issue a no objection certificate (NOC) to a black scorpion importer, out of fear that they may use the import NOC to sell local scorpions in the international market.

Dr Salahudin Ayubi, a geologist by profession and a gemstones exporter from Karachi, told The Express Tribune that he and his partner, Dr Sajid, had obtained a licence to import scorpions into Pakistan. They were also given permission to breed and sell the scorpions by the Sindh Wildlife Department.

According to Dr Ayubi, they had imported 10 scorpions from Tanzania after completing all legal requirements. When the consignment reached the Karachi port, however customs officials seized it and demanded an NOC from the wildlife department.

When Ayubi contacted the Sindh Wildlife Department for the NOC, he was told that scorpions were enlisted in Appendix - II of the Convention on International Trade in Endagered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). The NOC for import would thus be issued by the federal wildlife department, he was told.

Dr Ayubi claims he wanted to set up a scorpion farm in the country where the species would be bred and nurtured to a required weight and subsequently sold in the international market.

This would bring in a sizeable amount of foreign exchange, he hoped.

There is a huge demand for scorpions weighing over 50 grams in the international market. Some buyers prefer specimens that weigh over 100 grams. "The scorpions' venom is used to prepare medicines for the treatment of cancer and paralysed patients," said Dr Ayubi. Unfortunately, the wildlife department was using delay tactics in granting them an NOC, he asserted. He intends to import another consignment of 100 scorpions for farming, breeding and re-exporting once he is able to get the NOC.

For their part, an official of the wildlife department told The Express Tribune that they had not given any permission to import scorpions, nor were they delaying the issuance of an NOC.

He added that if the importer's claims of setting up a breeding farm were true, he must substantiate them with documentary evidence. If found to be the case, the department will support the venture.

He warned, however, that no person would be allowed to smuggle the species out of the country under the garb of dubious import permissions.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 20^th, 2014.