Donkey hides worth millions recovered from Karachi

It appears that Lahoris have been unknowingly eating donkey meat while the hides were being sent to Karachi for the purpose of illegal trade to other countries.

On Wednesday, the police in Karachi claimed to have recovered around 4,700 donkey hides during a raid on a shop in Gulistan-e-Jauhar Block 12.

So far seven suspects have been arrested who were involved in this business, while a few of their partners have managed to escape. According to police, the hides were exported to China where they are mostly used for medicinal purposes.

During the past few years, demand for the herbivores has been on the rise because restaurant owners use its meat in dishes as it really brings the cost down. However, this is illegal as donkey meat is not considered halal in Islam. While donkey meat may be cheap, its hides are much more expensive as they fetch a good buck in the international market.

Shahra-e-Faisal SHO, Israr Afridi gave the details of this case; “We have recovered a total 592 bags and each bag contains eight hides,” explained SHO Afridi. “Each skin is worth Rs25,000 while the worth of all the hides in the international market is Rs0.1 billion. We are sure that more of such groups would be involved in this illegal business across the country.”

The gang members who have been arrested so far include a married couple and a Chinese national. Police revealed that a 10-member gang has been involved in this business for over six months and has already sent multiple consignments to China.

“We used to buy ailing donkeys from across the country initially for their hides,” police quoted a suspect as saying. “But when we saw that its meat also had a demand in the market, we started getting profit from it.”

The arrested suspects were identified as Tu Zhong Xiao, a Chinese national, Afshan Bibi and her husband, Ahtisham Ahmed, Daniyal Khan, Faisal Ibrahim and a driver, Jumman, and a loader, Zeeshan, while the absconders included Muzaffar Abidi, Farooq Memon and Rafi.

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Posted by fatimaarshad on Apr 27 2017. Filed under Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.