KARACHI: Over 700 freshwater turtles, recently confiscated in a major raid on traffickers in the Defence Housing Authority area, were released into water in Sukkur on Monday.

The seized turtles were identified as black pond species (Geoclemys hamiltonii). Most of them were female.

“All have been released; over 200 into the Kallar lake adjacent to the Indus river while the rest in the Nara canal. We kept them moist throughout the journey by sprinkling water on them in intervals,” said Adnan Hamid Khan, head of the turtle conservation unit of provincial wildlife department.

A total of 780 black pond turtles, he pointed out, were recently confiscated; over 100 from a car in DHA and the rest in a raid on a bungalow in the same area.

Twenty turtles were found dead.

“Investigations show that the turtles were all trapped from the Chotiari Dam area in Sanghar,” he said.

According to wildlife sources, efforts are being made to arrest two key wildlife traffickers, Pappu Punjabi and Nawab Khan, declared absconders in the case.

Influential people, they said, were also pressurising the wildlife staff to release the two cars (bearing registration numbers XLI-ALC 104 and BBA-272 GLI) seized in the raid.

“If the government demonstrates commitment and gives a free hand to the department, major progress will be made in the case as we have gathered a lot of key information from the suspects,” a wildlife official said.

The wildlife department had confiscated these turtles and arrested 12 suspects, including three Chinese.

The suspects have been sent into judicial custody.

All freshwater turtle species of Pakistan are protected under the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab and Balochistan wildlife protection acts and are included in the revised Sindh Wildlife Protection Act.

According to the World Wide Fund for Nature-Pakistan, illicit wildlife trade of freshwater turtles is escalating in Pakistan and just this year, around 850 black pond turtles have been confiscated by law enforcement agencies.

“Poaching and smuggling of freshwater turtles due to their demand in the East Asian countries, particularly in China, Hong Kong, South Korea and Vietnam, has led to a significant decline in their populations,” a statement of the organisation said.

Published in Dawn September 13th, 2016