Pakistani authorities seized 74 smuggled falcons in raids at a posh residential area in the city of Karachi, a customs official said on Saturday.
Holding a news conference, Collector of Customs, Mohammad Saqif said that the birds were smuggled from Afghanistan. “We received information that these birds would be smuggled from Afghanistan (into Pakistan) and then would be smuggled onwards to Arab countries.”
“As soon as our deputy Collector Haroon received this information, we immediately constituted teams that raided the area,” Saqif said.
He said the Anti-Smuggling Organisation of Pakistan Customs conducted two search operations on the night of October 14 and 15, which resulted in the recovery of a large number of endangered exotic birds.
Custom officials plan to release the birds to their natural habitat after completion of legal formalities.
