The Sindh Rangers seized expensive falcons and foiled a smuggling bid during a raid on Saturday.
According to a spokesman for the paramilitary force, soldiers received credible information about a possible attempt to smuggle the birds from the Hub Check Post into Karachi.
The Rangers troops, which were deployed for checking, intercepted a passenger bus and seized eight expensive falcons worth Rs12.5 million.
The falcons were later handed over to customs authorities to initiate legal proceedings.
Heroin smuggling bid foiled
Personnel of the Pakistan Customs deployed at Jinnah International Airport Karachi arrested a passenger for being involved in a bid to smuggle drugs to a foreign destination.
Irfan Ali, a spokesman for the customs, said the staff were busy in checking people’s luggage in the departure lounge during which they stopped Arsalan Anwar on information provided by Airport Security Force (ASF) officials.
The man was said to be travelling to Doha from Karachi via flight QR-605. During a hand carry search, 565 grams of powdered heroin which was concealed inside the handle of the hand carry was discovered.
The cost of the heroin in the international market is estimated to be Rs5.5 million. Anwar was arrested and a case had been registered against him.
Illegal edible oil production
A team of the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency (Sepa) on Saturday closed down an illegal edible oil production setup where oil was being extracted from animal bones in an open area in the jurisdiction of the Sukhan Police Station in District Malir.
At the time of the raid, by a Sepa team headed by Deputy Director Waris Gabol, oil was being poured into an oil tanker having a storage capacity of 2,000-3,000 gallons to be supplied to the city.
Owing to the burning of un-recommended material as fuel, a huge smoke was causing air pollution in the surrounding area, where people were suffering from various respiratory and lung-related diseases.
No permission from any authority was available with the setup to run the process of oil extracting from animal bones.
The Sepa team on the spot got the oil production activity stopped with the help of local police.
A spokesman for Sepa said that earlier in the week, a team of the Sindh Environmental Protection Agency had conducted an inspection of an oil factory in Port Qasim reportedly extracting oil from animals’ offal and limbs.
The team, headed by Director Karachi Regional Office Dr Ashique Ali Langah, and comprising Deputy Director Waris Gabol and other officials found the factory extracting oil from various residue parts of slaughtered animals without any authorisation.
Moreover, the factory situated behind Lucky Coal Power Plant was also found emitting dark smoke, which was causing air pollution-related diseases in communities living around the area.
People on the spot informed the Sepa team that edible oil being produced in the factory was supplied to various markets of Karachi.
Sepa is authorised under various sections of the Sindh Environmental Protection Act 2014 to inspect and monitor any establishment which reportedly create any hazard to the environment, and it may also order closure of such a unit if it is found polluting the environment above permissible limits.