KARACHI: The Customs dep­art­ment confiscated 350 tortoises on Friday in Mochko and arrested a man who claimed to have acquired the reptiles from Quetta.

The species was identified as Afghan tortoises.

“An FIR has been registered against Baaz Mohammed who was bringing the tortoises from Quetta to Karachi in a bus,” said Dr Ali Raza Turabi, deputy collector Cus­toms at the Anti-Smuggling Organi­sation (Preventive Collectorate).

The tortoises, all in good health, were being properly fed and would be handed over to the departments concerned, the Balochistan and Sindh wildlife departments for release in their habitat, once all legal formalities were met, he added.

Sharing details of Afghan tortoises’ distribution in the region, Shamim Fakhri, senior research officer at the Zoological Survey of Pakistan, said tortoises were found from the Caspian Sea southward through Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan and eastward through Kazakhstan to Xinjiang, China.

“Two tortoise species are found in Pakistan; the Indian star tortoises and the Afghan tortoises. The latter is native to Balochistan,” he said, adding that he spotted the species in Ziarat, Khuzdar, Noshki, Quetta and Mastung during his surveys.

According to him, indiscriminate trapping and poaching of tortoises have greatly reduced their number. “The Indian star tortoise has become rare in Sindh, though the Afghan tortoise is still found in many areas of Balochistan.”

The Afghan tortoise is listed as protected species under the Balochistan Wildlife Protection Act while Sindh’s rules enacted in 2014 ban poaching, catching, trapping and netting of all types of turtles and tortoises.

International trade of all reptile species is legally prohibited in Pakistan under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.

Published in Dawn, April 30th, 2017

Opinion

Editorial

The Peca problem
Updated 15 Feb, 2025

The Peca problem

The fight for fundamental freedoms is not the media’s alone, but one that concerns every citizen.
Miners in danger
15 Feb, 2025

Miners in danger

YESTERDAY’S devastating terrorist attack in Harnai, which killed at least 11 coal miners and injured seven others,...
Solar panels scam
15 Feb, 2025

Solar panels scam

THE scam involving over-invoicing to the tune of more than Rs69bn in the import of solar panels raises many ...
Dangerous times
Updated 14 Feb, 2025

Dangerous times

Pakistan accounted for six journalist killings in 2024, of which three were deliberately murdered, according to the CPJ.
Difficult target
14 Feb, 2025

Difficult target

A ONE-two punch delivered by an unforeseen, sharp dip in inflation and an extremely slim base of taxpayers is...
Amazing show
14 Feb, 2025

Amazing show

PAKISTAN’S ability to turn it up at the flick of a switch remains uninhibited. The latest show came in...