A customs court on Friday extended the remand of seven accused, including a woman and a Chinese citizen, till May 09 in a case pertaining to attempt to smuggle donkey hides to China.
The investigating officer produced accused—Tu-Zhong Xiao, Afshan Ehtisham, Syed Ehtisham Zaidi, Muhammad Faisal Bhutto, Muhammad Jumman, Zeeshan Jan, Daniyal Rahman and Muhammad Shakeel—before the court, submitting that they were required for further interrogation.
While accepting the customs authority’s plea, the judge allowed them to keep the suspects with them until May 09.
Earlier, the court was informed that police had recovered as many as 4,736 donkey hides worth Rs118.4 million which were put inside 592 sacks, during an operation conducted in Gulistan-e-Jauhar, Block-12 on April 26.
Later, the suspects and hides were handed over to customs authorities and a case was lodged.
The investigation officer told the judge that during the investigation it was revealed that the hides were brought illegally from Lahore and were to be smuggled to China. There were about eight hides in one sack and one hide is sold for approximately Rs25,000, he added.
The court was further informed that China is using donkey hides in making medicine named Ejiao, useful in blood-related disease. The Ejiao is obtained from donkey’s Gelatin and owing to this reasons, China has become a major importer of donkey hides.
According to the IO, Tu Zhong Xiao is the mastermind and main culprit behind this case as he used to make all the dealing. Xiao was also involved in investing and sending consignment outside the country. Large numbers of donkey hides are being exported to China and often illegal methods are adopted to make more profits.
