FAISALABAD, April 28: ‘Sudden’ death of about 100 poultry birds and some crows created panic in Chak 67-GB of Jaranwala tehsil on Friday.

A teacher, Maqsood Ahmad, informed police that hundreds of poultry birds had expired in Chak 67-JB, Jaranwala, which could be a result of bird flue.

The police approached their highups and communicated the message to other officials concerned, especially the health functionaries.

A number of official teams rushed to the site and found over 100 birds dead around the poultry farms of Shafiq and Mazharul Islam.

The area people informed team members that some crows who had munched the dead birds had also died. The health functionaries found two crows in nearby fields.

City district nazim Rana Zahid Tauseef deputed two teams, headed by district health officer Rana Imran Ali and district officer livestock Akbar Ali, to find reasons behind the death of birds.

A police team, headed by Jaranwala SDPO Mehr Rab Nawaz, reportedly took four people into custody and sent them to Faisalabad hospitals for a medical checkup following an information that they had taken chicken from these affected farms.

A group of people, including some poultry farm owners, told this correspondent that it was not a bird flu issue, but a drama staged by a rival group.

They said one group, led by Irshad, Bashir and Taj Mohammad, closed their poutry farms, but the other group led by Shafiq and Mazharul Islam continued business.

This ‘jealousy’ and a tussle between the two groups resulted in spreading a rumour of bird flu to create problems for Islam and Shafiq.

Inquiries revealed that the affected poultry farms had run out of stocks a couple of days ago due to sales and death of some birds following a rise in temperature during the last three days.

DHO Rana Imran said some dead birds had been sent for an analysis, while health and livestock experts were monitoring the area.

Dispelling the impression of bird flue, he said there was no symptoms of such a disease in the area.