BAHAWALPUR: A Lodhran wildlife rangers team seized two pairs of Indian rock pythons and sand boas in a raid, arresting a man for illegal possession of these rare snakes.

Wildlife Ranger Rao Adeel Talib told Dawn by cell phone on Tuesday, that they got a tip-off that a juggler, Shehbaz, a resident of Gujrat, had illegally kept the rare snakes. He said that Shehbaz would display these snakes in a ticketed show at Adda Shahnal in the limits of Gailiwal police station.

Acting on the information, he said, a wildlife rangers’ team conducted a raid and seized two pairs of Indian rock pythons and sand boas, a nonvenomous species of snakes, protected under the wildlife laws. The seized snakes are two meters long, he added.

After taking Shehbaz into custody, Gailiwal police, on complaint of wildlife officials, registered an FIR (No 196/26) against him under the Punjab Wildlife Protection Act, 1974.

The suspect was later produced in a court, which sent him on a judicial remand. On the court orders, the wildlife department handed over the Indian rock pythons to the officials of Bahawalpur Zoo, where they would be kept in a separate enclosure.

Meanwhile, the pair of the sand boas was released in their natural habitat in Cholistan desert.

Accidents: Three persons, including a police constable, died, while two others suffered injuries in four separate rail and road accidents in Bahawalpur and Vehari districts on Tuesday.

In the first incident, a Punjab police Constable, Qurban Hussain, belonging to Basti Jam Abdul Rehman of Rahim Yar Khan district, died after being run over byJaffer Express, going from Quetta to Peshawar, at Sammsatta railway junction on Tuesday morning.

According to Rescue 1122, Hussain attempted to disembark from the running train and was run over by it. He died on the spot. The rescuers reaching the spot handed over the body to the railway police officials present at Sammsata Railway Station.

Besides, the right arm of a man, identified as Naseer-ud-Din, was chopped off after he was also run over by Pakistan Express at Sammsatta Railway Station. Railway officials say the accident occurred when the man attempted to disembark from the running train, going from Karachi to Peshawar. He was shifted to hospital.

In the third incident, a woman, Shamim Mai (50), died when the motorcycle she was riding a pillion, was hit by a speeding bus coming to Bahawalpur from Ahmedpur East.

The accident occurred on Bahawalpur-Ahmedpur East Highway near Musafirkhan Adda, about 40kms from here. The man driving the motorcycle remained unhurt.

The police impounded the bus and took its driver into custody. In the fourth incident, a man identified as Shehzad (25), a resident of Chak No 118/ WB, died after his motorcycle was hit by a mini-truck on Gymkhana Road, Vehari.

A Rescue 1122 team shifted the body to Vehari DHQ Hospital, while traffic police took the driver in custody.

Published in Dawn, May 13th, 2026