KARACHI: The 350 Afg­han tortoises confiscated by Customs officials in the Mochko area couldn’t be released in their natural habitat even after 10 days, thanks to routine official lethargy, sources told Dawn on Wednesday.

The tortoises recovered from a bus had been brought to Karachi from Quetta and are currently being kept in the Customs office.

According to sources, the Sindh wildlife department has refused to take their custody on the ground that it’s an Afghan species and its natural habitat is in Balochis­tan, whereas the officials concerned in Balochistan are awaiting documents with details on the case.

Sources also pointed to the fact that both wildlife dep­art­ments in Sindh and Balo­chis­tan didn’t have any facility to keep confiscated animals before their release into the wild.

Speaking to Dawn, Dr Ali Raza Turabi, deputy collector of Customs at the Anti-Smuggling Organisation (Pre­ven­tive Collectorate), said that the department made initial contacts with both Sindh and Balochistan wildlife departments in writing about the case.

“Later, I talked to the Sindh conservator wildlife who explained that the department can’t take the tortoises since they are not found in Sindh and that contacts should be made with relevant officials in Balochis­tan where these animals belonged to,” he said, adding that the additional wildlife secretary of Sindh had recently been contacted and had promised to look into the matter on urgent basis.

All tortoises were healthy and being taken care of, he said. “There is only one fear that they may get used to the comfortable life and find [it] difficult to survive once they are back in their wild habitat, which preferably should be a sanctuary so they are safe from poachers,” he said.

An FIR, he pointed out, had already been registered in the case and the accused would be handed over to the wildlife department along with the tortoises.

Sindh conservator wildlife Saeed Baloch, however, denied that he had refused to take custody of tortoises and said: “We didn’t refuse, but suggested to the Customs department to contact the Balochistan department. The species is not found in Sindh and might have died if we had released them here.”

Upon contact, conservator wildlife of Balochistan Shari­­f­uddin Baloch said the dep­ar­tment officially came to know about the case only a day earlier. “We have asked them to share details of the court order in writing so we can proceed further. Tortoises will be released in different areas once they are handed over to us,” he said.

He, however, admitted that he initially became aware of the case through the social media.

About tortoise smuggling, he claimed that a few people were involved in it and that staff shortage was an obstacle in effectively tackling the illegal animal trade.

Published in Dawn, May 11th, 2017