A gang of 7 people including a Chinese citizen, who was the brains behind this illegal practice was arrested in Karachi in late April. The authorities seized 592 packs containing more than 4,700 donkey leather from the Lahore area and ready to be smuggled across the border. The value of the goods, according to the local press, is about 118 million Pakistani rupees (just over one million euros). The Chinese market was the primary recipient of the stock, where donkey leather is used to produce ejiao, a traditional medicine remedy considered today a luxury product. The legal, and most often illegal, channels supplying the Chinese production are becoming a cause for alarm in Asian and African. According to a journalist survey conducted by IOL – African Independent (a publishing group headquartered in Cape Town, South Africa) we can now talk about “Silent Holocaust of Donkeys”. “Chinese demand requires between 4 and 11 million donkeys per year, but the world’s population is 44 million heads. It is an unsustainable situation” reads a note.
Blitz in Pakistan against donkey leather smugglers. 1 million euro seizure. The African press accuses: “Unbearable Crime Affair.”
