Man nabbed with banned shahtoosh shawls at Attari

Tribune News Service

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Amritsar, February 24

The Amritsar Customs Department has arrested an Uttar Pradesh resident while trying to sneak in to Pakistan via the Attari-Wagah border with shahtoosh shawls, a banned article.

The man, Mohammad Javed from Shamli district, was travelling with his family when he was caught at the border on January 30. A case has been registered.

He tried to dodge customs officers by claiming that the shawls were made out of pashmina. Suspicious, the officers did not allow him to cross over to Pakistan. He was detained for further investigation.

“One of the shawls was sent to Dehradun for testing. The test confirmed theshawl was made out of shahtoosh,” Customs Commissioner Dipak Kamar Gupta said, adding it was a rare case.

“On January 30, customs officials checked Javed’s baggage, which a porter was carrying. On examining it, at least 100 pieces of packed shawl were found. The fabric was different the usual one. When he could not answer our queries, he was detained for questioning,” Gupta said.

Shahtoosh comes from the short, warm fleece of the rare Tibetan antelope, Chiru, a species found exclusively in the Changtang area in Tibet. Since the antelope are wild animals that can’t be domesticated, the only way to get the wool is to kill them and strip it from their carcasses.

Smugglers then sneak raw wool into Kashmir, where artisans weave it into neck-warming wraps. It takes four animals to provide enough wool for one shahtoosh shawl or scarf.

The Customs Commissioner said processing or wearing shahtoosh is a punishable offence as the animal comes under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.

“Javed appeared to have connections in Kashmir. His accomplices fled after he disclosed their whereabouts during investigation,” he added.