KASUR: Bad times for donkeys are not over even though the government last year froze the export of donkey hides.

A racket of hide traders in Kasur with some Chinese people in Lahore continue buying donkey hides to be smuggled to China from Karachi port.

Kasur is one of the biggest markets in the country of hides collection and leather processing.

This correspondent got clues about the trade of donkey hides from a leather merchant initially who, requesting anonymity, said a group of about 15 people was engaged in the collection of donkey hides with the connivance of police in Niaz Nagar and Din Gar area of Kasur. These areas are the hub of hide and leather deals.

As these hides are exported to China, several Chinese can be seen in the Kasur market.

Kasur police had seized over 1,000 donkey hides from the hub that were later destroyed as per a court order. The incident had sparked debates in the social circles and reluctantly, the Economic Coordination Committee of the cabinet had later frozen the trade of donkey skin in September 2015. Some African countries also facing the massive slaughtering of donkeys banned the export of hides.

After a brief lull, skinless bodies of donkeys are reappearing again, indicating a rise in the demand of hides.

On Thursday, Illahabad police arrested two people for stealing six donkeys from the area. According to Sub-Inspector Muhammad Tariq, the accused had admitted selling the hides to a dealer in Khudian.

Mustafabad police recovered the bodies of six donkeys from the fields of village Katlohi. Patrolling police recovered the bodies of 10 donkey from a truck near village Dhako, Chunian. The two arrested accused were handed over to Okara police due to its jurisdiction.

Dawn learned the group would first put down a donkey through a poisonous injection and later remove its skin. The meat of the fallen animal is either destroyed or used for fats extraction. The hides are collected also from parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Gilgit-Baltistan, Gujranwala and Faisalabad and stored in a godown near Rohi Nullah of Din Gar. The hides are shifted to Gajomata, some seven kilomteres from Ferozepur Road to be transported to the Karachi port, the source said.

The salted dry skins of donkeys were transported from one place to another in the dead of night.

Chinese buyers have offices in Model Town, Lahore, where they deal with the sellers and pay them cash. One of the dealers, involved in the deals, said the Chinese middleman was a guest house owner in Model Town. When this correspondent contacted the Chinese in Model Town on phone, he said he himself had nothing to do with donkey hides, but he would forward the correspondent to the buyers in few days.

Cash figures are not big in the trade despite a ban on the hides’ trade.

Before the ban, a hide would be sold at Rs10,000 to 20,000 last year but the recent rates per hide are Rs5,000 to 7,000. A leather merchant told Dawn that the Chinese buyers had reduced the prices saying that they had to pay Rs4 million bribe for a 30,000 hides shipment to Customs officials the at Karachi port. He said the treated hides, covered in plastic bags would be concealed in vegetables cartons.

The hides are exported to China to make gelatin for human consumption, anti-wrinkle and beauty products and medicines.

City Circle Deputy Superintendent of Police Abdul Qayoom Gondal was not available for a comment.

Tanneries Association President Abdul Ghafar said no trade or exports of donkey hides were being done. He added that some traders did buy hides as the leather was used in the sole of shoes and the leather from donkey, horse and camel hides were considered fine for soles.

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2016