International smugglers working with locals in illegal smuggling

On July 29, 20The Abbottabad Wildlife Department on Saturday arrested a gang involved in the illegal smuggling of snake skins in the Shah Maqsood are of Haripur.

Sources confirmed that the group of alleged smugglers belonged to Rawalpindi and were caught as they were transferring the skins to Muzaffarabad.

The skins are used in the manufacturing of valuable medicines in Japan and Thailand.

It is a punishable offence to hunt a snake for its skin or to obtain the skin of a snake from the forest, which the snake itself sheds before the rainy season,.

The wildlife department also arrested a shoemaker from Peshawar a year ago who was later booked and fined, the spokesperson added.

On July 27, the KP Wildlife had foiled two separate bids of smuggling of wild species and arrested the smugglers in Abbottabad district.

The Intelligence Wing of Abbottabad Wildlife Division managed to apprehend offenders involved in illegal trafficking/smuggling and dealing of peregrine falcon from Shangla district to Islamabad. The arrested man has been booked under various sections of the Wildlife and Biodiversity Act 2015 and penalised with a heavy fine of Rs 110,000.