Donkeys seem to live comfortable lives, unbothered to human concerns or crimes. In an unusual case, the police in Pakistan arrested six donkeys for facilitating the country’s timber mafia operatives. According to a report by Urdu News, six donkeys were taken to the police station in the Chitral district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in connection with Timber smuggling. While the accused in the case managed to escape. However, the donkeys were taken into custody.
The incident took place on October 18 when the forest officials and the district administration arrived at Darosh Gol to get hold of the smugglers. The said suspects, who are also carpenters, managed to escape leaving behind the donkeys.
According to the Pakistani newspaper The Express Tribune, in September, an employee of the forest department Omer Shah and his partner Imran Shah (Check-post guard) who were arrested while smuggling valuable timber from the forest in the Makhnial area, have been officially suspended by Divisional Forest Officer Haripur Farhad Ali.
As per the media house, Omer was stealing and selling the valuable timber of Deodat and Genus Abies, as a result, the forest was not only leading towards deforestation but the forest department was also suffering losses.
But what is more astonishing to know is that the six donkeys will be presented to the court by the forest department.
Assistant Commissioner Darosh Tauseefullah stated that on Tuesday night, they received information that wooden sleepers were being loaded on donkeys and being smuggled to other villages. As soon as they arrived, the accused fled into the forest, but the donkeys with them left behind were taken into custody. “Timber mafia operatives use donkeys to transport timber in storm drains,” he added.
The assistant commissioner also revealed that the forest department had been instructed to present the six donkeys in court.
This is not the first time such an incident has come to light from Pakistan. In 2020, the Pakistani police arrested a donkey for participating in gambling in Punjab province. The incident was reported from Rahim Yar Khan City where the officials nabbed eight people and a donkey for their alleged involvement in a gambling race. A case was also filed against the donkey who was mentioned as the accused.