Wildlife smuggling racket: UP cops grill Hyderabad's top pet shop owner

Hyderabad: Mr S.A. Sohail, the owner of the high-profile Fur and Feathers, the shop selling exotic birds at Banjara Hills, was questioned on Monday by the Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh police and forest department officials who are investigating an Indo-Nepal wildlife smuggling racket.

Mr Sohail’s name came up when the Mirzapur police was investigating a city resident identified as Mohammed Arif, in a case of trafficking of five caracals and a leopard.

Mr Sohail told this newspaper, “Uttar Pradesh police and forest officials questioned me. There was some confusion and it was a case of mistaken identity. They were asking about one Abdul Rehman whom I do not know. I have nothing to do with the illegal wildlife trade and I am very much available in the city for investigators.”

UP divisional forest officer K.K. Pandey, who was involved in the operation, said, “A team of Mirzapur police has gone to Hyderabad to nab the kingpin. Sohail’s name did come up during the investigation. The racket is connected to Nepal.”
South Zone DCP V. Satyanarayana said the UP police was looking for three persons — S.A. Sohail, Raheem and Abdul Rehman — in connection with their case.

During a search operation, South Zone police recently found a mini zoo at the house of Rafeeq and his son, Mr Sohail, which included a llama and an ostrich.

In 2013, Mr Sohail was found to be in possession of peafowl, which is illegal under the Wildlife Act. Former anti-poaching squad deputy range officer S.K. Baba Quader Vali said Mr Sohail’s house in Kalpattar had been raided in May 2013 and 12 peafowl were rescued and a chargesheet filed against him. Asked about the case, Mr Sohail said, “The case is still going on. They were all exotic peafowl and exempted under the Indian law." Mr Sohail said he had earlier gifted baby ostriches to the Nehru Zoological Park at Hyderabad.

Unaware of exotic bird sale says, Zoo curator
Exotic birds are non Indian species that are imported and sold in India legally by Mr Sohail and several other bird sellers, whereas the caracal is an Indian protected species and can't be traded.

Former director of Zoos and Parks P. Mallikarjuna Rao said, “The zoo used to get exotic birds from Fur and Feathers owned by Mr Sohail.”

Nehru Zoo curator Shivani Dongra said, “We haven’t purchased any birds recently. I am not aware of purchases previously. If it happened earlier without the knowledge of sellers in other activities we are not going to encourage it. We will inform the forest department about the same.”