CBI books Kashmiri man for illegally exporting shawls containing 'Shahtoosh hair'

Tribune News Service
New Delhi, July 29

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Thursday said that it has registered two spate cases on the complaints by the Customs Departments against a Srinagar-based exporter, and two private firms on the allegations of illegal export shawls containing “Shahtoosh hair”.

Officials in the agency said that in one of the cases, the proprietor of a private firm based at Srinagar—Cashmere Fine Arts—Shabir Ahmad Gogeree has been named.

In the second case, the CBI in its FIR has named the Delhi-based Craft Harvest and its proprietor, they added.

“Following the registration of the case, the CBI sleuths carried out searches at the premises of both the firms in New Delhi and Srinagar, which led to the recovery of 4 shawls and incriminating documents,” a senior agency official said.

The official said that the cases have been registered on the allegations of illegal export of 32 (26+6) shawls containing guard hair of Tibetan Antelope (Shahtoosh).

The export of such wildlife material is prohibited under the provisions of Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, he noted, while adding that investigation in both cases is in progress.