170 turtles found inside wheat bags

Pakistan: The Sindh wildlife department recovered on Thursday 170 black-horn turtles during a raid near Northern Bypass on the Super Highway.

Unfortunately, 11 of the 170 turtles had died of suffocation as they were packed inside wheat bags, said Sindh wildlife department marine conservation in-charge Adnan Mehmood. As soon as the wildlife team approached the location, the smugglers fled, he said. Later, they were released into Keenjhar Lake.

The turtles were being smuggled from Taunsa in Punjab to Karachi, from where they would have been shipped to another country, said Mehmood. According to him, black-horn turtles are an endangered species and are worth millions of rupees.

Difficult to smuggle

The reason why more of these turtles are being recovered during raids is because their smuggling is now almost impossible to carry out, said World Wide Fund-Pakistan senior official Moazzam Khan. Smugglers from all over the country bring these turtles to Karachi and when they fail to smuggle them, they are caught by the authorities, he said.