Rangers, wildlife dept thwart smuggling of ducks

Law enforcers were intimated that a Larkana-Karachi bus was carrying birds to the port city

HYDERABAD: Rangers and Sindh Wildlife Department foiled the smuggling of ducks in a passenger bus, arresting a suspect and rescuing around 200 ducks.

The deputy director of the wildlife department, Ghulam Muhammad Gadani, told The Express Tribune that the department intimated the Rangers that a Karachi-bound bus from Larkana was carrying the birds to the port city.

According to Gadani, wildlife official Wajid Shaikh-led raiding team had received a tip-off. During their routine checking at the Hyderabad toll plaza on the Super Highway at around 4am, the Rangers spotted the vehicle and found the birds caged over its roof. "These birds were being smuggled to Karachi from where they were [supposed to be] shipped to the Gulf countries," said the official. "The hunters use them to train falcons." According to him, one duck sells for up to 1,000 dirhams (around Rs27,000).

The arrested man was identified as Ramzan Ali, a resident of Qambar-Shahdadkot district. He was booked in an FIR and fined Rs30,000 before being released. The driver of the bus, bearing registration number GA-4488, was not detained. "The law doesn't provide for arresting the transporters but only the hunters and smugglers," claimed Gadani, citing the Sindh Wildlife Protection Act.

The rescued birds were placed in a cage in the wildlife department's Hyderabad region office.

Gadani said that they will release the birds in Haleji or some other lake in the next two days.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 13^th, 2015.