KARACHI, April 11: Sindh Wildlife Department staff seized over 30 kilograms of meat and body parts of soft-shell freshwater turtles early on Monday morning, said the SWD chief.

Turtles are an endangered species protected under the Sindh Wildlife Protection Ordinance. Trapping, killing and trading in turtles is banned under the law. Turtle meat is considered a delicacy in Far Eastern counties while its body parts are also used for medicinal purposes. Dawn

SWD conservator Saeed Baloch told that acting on a tip-off that some wildlife traffickers were shifting turtle meat from an upper Sindh area to Karachi for smuggling out, he sent SWD staffers to check the bus.

He said game officer Mumtaz Soomro and game inspector Mukhtar Ahmad while checking a Shalimar coach (JB 3245) coming from Larkana to Karachi at the Superhighway toll plaza seized the two cartons containing turtle meat.

He said the cartons had been booked as parcels and nobody accompanied them.

However, the turtle meat and parts were confiscated and an investigation was being conducted.

Besides meat, the cartons contained other turtle parts –– carapace frill, plastron soft shell, etc.