KARACHI, Nov 19: A wildlife trafficker was caught and nine peregrine falcons — a migratory bird species — were seized from his baggage at the Jinnah International Airport just before he was to fly out to Qatar on the Eid day, it is learnt.

The falcons, roughly valued around Rs1 million each, were confiscated and a fine of Rs100,000 was imposed on the alleged wildlife trafficker.

The Sindh wildlife department’s game inspector, Rasheed Ahmad, told Dawn on Friday that the wildlife trafficker, Azim, son of Abdullah, was carrying the peregrine falcons, a species protected under the wildlife protection laws, and intended to smuggle them out to Qatar but he was caught by customs and wildlife staffers.

He said that a case had been registered against Azim, a resident of A-113, Khokhrapar, Malir, and an FOR (No 30/245 dated Nov 18, 2010) was registered under Section 12 of the Sindh Wildlife Protection Ordinance, 1972, against him.

A fine of Rs100,000 was also imposed and recovered from him, he added.

He said four dead and five live falcons had been brought to the SWD office.

According to sources, four of the nine seized falcons had already died when customs and SWD staffers opened the confiscated cage.

The live falcons were in the department’s custody and expected to be released into the wild soon.

Inhabitants of Central Asian regions, the falcons usually follow other migratory birds to spend their winters in a relatively warm environment here.

During their stay here, the migratory falcon species of saker and peregrine are trapped in large numbers as they are used by foreigners to hunt the internationally protected houbara bustard, also a migratory bird species in danger of extinction owing to ruthless hunting.

The saker and peregrine falcons are favourite species for such hunters and could easily fetch between Rs1 million and Rs5 million each.

There is a ban on the trapping and netting of falcons, but the ban is ignored to catch the bird in a big number and fetch millions.

Owing to the widespread practice, the bird’s population has already declined and it has been declared protected under the nature conservation laws.