Muscat: An attempt to smuggle endangered species of birds from Pakistan to Muscat was foiled at Karachi, according to a media report in Pakistan.
The report said that Pakistan Customs staff at Jinnah International Airport arrested a passenger with three cages registered for Muscat, containing 17 flamingos, two cranes and 120 rose-ringed parrots.
However, a senior member of the Environment Ministry in Oman said that the country had not given clearance for any import of endangered birds from Pakistan.
The passenger, identified in the report as Ahmad Bux, reportedly claimed that he had a permit to export the birds. But the documents he produced to validate his claim allegedly turned out to be fake.
The media reported that the Customs department handed over the case to the Sindh Wildlife Department and that Bux was allegedly involved in exporting protected and endangered birds out of Pakistan with the help of members of that department.
Ali Al Kiyumi, Director General for nature Conservation at the Ministry, told Gulf News on Tuesday: “We have a set procedure and a permit must be sought from our ministry before importing any species that fall under the list of Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES)”.
Oman is a signatory to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species. Al Kiyumi said he believed that this alleged act of smuggling could be a one-off.
“We have not been informed by the Pakistan authorities about who it was addressed to here in Oman,” he said in reply to a question about who may have imported the migratory birds to Oman.
In any case, he stressed that Oman would not allow any species brought here without proper papers.
“We would act according to the CITES regulations and confiscated any birds or animal imported here without the permission of country of origin,” he said.
Recently Muscat has seen a number of pet shops open up selling exotic varieties of bird, including various species of parrots.
