Pakistan busts illegal donkey meat operation, seizes 900kg of meat
Authorities confiscated more than 900 kilograms (approximately 25 maunds) of donkey meat from the premises, which was promptly destroyed. Additionally, 60 live donkeys were recovered from the site.
A foreign national was arrested at the scene and handed over to the police for further investigation. Initial reports suggest the meat was being processed for distribution within Pakistan and potentially exported abroad as part of a broader illegal supply network.
Dr. Tahira Siddique, Deputy Director of the Islamabad Food Authority, confirmed the scale of the seizure. 'It was revealed that the meat was allegedly being supplied not only to the local market but also exported abroad,' she stated. The farmhouse had reportedly been operating without legal authorization.
Sources close to the investigation indicate that a Chinese national, who had been operating in the Tarnol area for some time, is suspected of managing the illicit business. Authorities are now working to trace the meat distribution chain and identify domestic and international buyers who may have been involved.
Dr. Siddique emphasized the authority's commitment to public health and food safety. 'Ensuring the availability of safe and quality food in Islamabad is the Food Authority's top priority. We are enforcing a zero-tolerance policy against those who endanger public health,' she said.
The Islamabad Food Authority has urged the public to report any suspicious activities or suspected sale of substandard or unregulated meat to relevant agencies, in an effort to dismantle illegal operations and ensure consumer safety.
Investigations into the operation are ongoing.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Arab Times
5 days ago
- Arab Times
Making deepfakes is getting simpler — countering them might need advanced AI
For Washington insiders, seeing and hearing is no longer believing, thanks to a spate of recent incidents involving deepfakes impersonating top officials in President Donald Trump's administration. Digital fakes are coming for corporate America, too, as criminal gangs and hackers associated with adversaries including North Korea use synthetic video and audio to impersonate CEOs and low-level job candidates to gain access to critical systems or business secrets. Thanks to advances in artificial intelligence, creating realistic deepfakes is easier than ever, causing security problems for governments, businesses and private individuals and making trust the most valuable currency of the digital age. Responding to the challenge will require laws, better digital literacy and technical solutions that fight AI with more AI. "As humans, we are remarkably susceptible to deception,' said Vijay Balasubramaniyan, CEO and founder of the tech firm Pindrop Security. But he believes solutions to the challenge of deepfakes may be within reach: "We are going to fight back.' This summer, someone used AI to create a deepfake of Secretary of State Marco Rubio in an attempt to reach out to foreign ministers, a U.S. senator and a governor over text, voice mail and the Signal messaging app. In May someone impersonated Trump's chief of staff, Susie Wiles. Another phony Rubio had popped up in a deepfake earlier this year, saying he wanted to cut off Ukraine's access to Elon Musk's Starlink internet service. Ukraine's government later rebutted the false claim. The national security implications are huge: People who think they're chatting with Rubio or Wiles, for instance, might discuss sensitive information about diplomatic negotiations or military strategy. "You're either trying to extract sensitive secrets or competitive information or you're going after access, to an email server or other sensitive network," Kinny Chan, CEO of the cybersecurity firm QiD, said of the possible motivations. Synthetic media can also aim to alter behavior. Last year, Democratic voters in New Hampshire received a robocall urging them not to vote in the state's upcoming primary. The voice on the call sounded suspiciously like then-President Joe Biden but was actually created using AI. Their ability to deceive makes AI deepfakes a potent weapon for foreign actors. Both Russia and China have used disinformation and propaganda directed at Americans as a way of undermining trust in democratic alliances and institutions. Steven Kramer, the political consultant who admitted sending the fake Biden robocalls, said he wanted to send a message of the dangers deepfakes pose to the American political system. Kramer was acquitted last month of charges of voter suppression and impersonating a candidate. "I did what I did for $500,' Kramer said. "Can you imagine what would happen if the Chinese government decided to do this?' The greater availability and sophistication of the programs mean deepfakes are increasingly used for corporate espionage and garden variety fraud. "The financial industry is right in the crosshairs," said Jennifer Ewbank, a former deputy director of the CIA who worked on cybersecurity and digital threats. "Even individuals who know each other have been convinced to transfer vast sums of money.' In the context of corporate espionage, they can be used to impersonate CEOs asking employees to hand over passwords or routing numbers. Deepfakes can also allow scammers to apply for jobs - and even do them - under an assumed or fake identity. For some this is a way to access sensitive networks, to steal secrets or to install ransomware. Others just want the work and may be working a few similar jobs at different companies at the same time. Authorities in the U.S. have said that thousands of North Koreans with information technology skills have been dispatched to live abroad, using stolen identities to obtain jobs at tech firms in the U.S. and elsewhere. The workers get access to company networks as well as a paycheck. In some cases, the workers install ransomware that can be later used to extort even more money. The schemes have generated billions of dollars for the North Korean government. Within three years, as many as 1 in 4 job applications is expected to be fake, according to research from Adaptive Security, a cybersecurity company. "We've entered an era where anyone with a laptop and access to an open-source model can convincingly impersonate a real person,' said Brian Long, Adaptive's CEO. "It's no longer about hacking systems - it's about hacking trust.' Researchers, public policy experts and technology companies are now investigating the best ways of addressing the economic, political and social challenges posed by deepfakes. New regulations could require tech companies to do more to identify, label and potentially remove deepfakes on their platforms. Lawmakers could also impose greater penalties on those who use digital technology to deceive others - if they can be caught. Greater investments in digital literacy could also boost people's immunity to online deception by teaching them ways to spot fake media and avoid falling prey to scammers. The best tool for catching AI may be another AI program, one trained to sniff out the tiny flaws in deepfakes that would go unnoticed by a person. Systems like Pindrop's analyze millions of datapoints in any person's speech to quickly identify irregularities. The system can be used during job interviews or other video conferences to detect if the person is using voice cloning software, for instance. Similar programs may one day be commonplace, running in the background as people chat with colleagues and loved ones online. Someday, deepfakes may go the way of email spam, a technological challenge that once threatened to upend the usefulness of email, said Balasubramaniyan, Pindrop's CEO.
Arab Times
6 days ago
- Arab Times
Pakistan busts illegal donkey meat operation, seizes 900kg of meat
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, July 27: In a major crackdown on illegal meat trade, the Islamabad Food Authority (IFA), in coordination with local police and district administration, raided a farmhouse in the Tarnol area, uncovering a disturbing operation involving the slaughter and sale of donkey meat. Authorities confiscated more than 900 kilograms (approximately 25 maunds) of donkey meat from the premises, which was promptly destroyed. Additionally, 60 live donkeys were recovered from the site. A foreign national was arrested at the scene and handed over to the police for further investigation. Initial reports suggest the meat was being processed for distribution within Pakistan and potentially exported abroad as part of a broader illegal supply network. Dr. Tahira Siddique, Deputy Director of the Islamabad Food Authority, confirmed the scale of the seizure. 'It was revealed that the meat was allegedly being supplied not only to the local market but also exported abroad,' she stated. The farmhouse had reportedly been operating without legal authorization. Sources close to the investigation indicate that a Chinese national, who had been operating in the Tarnol area for some time, is suspected of managing the illicit business. Authorities are now working to trace the meat distribution chain and identify domestic and international buyers who may have been involved. Dr. Siddique emphasized the authority's commitment to public health and food safety. 'Ensuring the availability of safe and quality food in Islamabad is the Food Authority's top priority. We are enforcing a zero-tolerance policy against those who endanger public health,' she said. The Islamabad Food Authority has urged the public to report any suspicious activities or suspected sale of substandard or unregulated meat to relevant agencies, in an effort to dismantle illegal operations and ensure consumer safety. Investigations into the operation are ongoing.
Kuwait Times
22-07-2025
- Kuwait Times
Bangladesh seethes as toll from jet crash at school hits 31
Bangladesh seethes as toll from jet crash at school hits 31 DHAKA: Grief gave way to anger in Bangladesh on Tuesday, a day after a fighter jet crashed into a school, killing 31 people, mostly children, in the country's deadliest aviation accident in decades. The pupils had just been let out of class when the Chinese-made F-7 BJI aircraft slammed into the private Milestone School and College in Dhaka on Monday. At least 31 people have died, up from the military's earlier toll of 27. More than 170 people were injured in the crash, with 69 of them still undergoing treatment at various hospitals. 'Ten patients are in very critical condition,' Sayedur Rahman, from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, told reporters. At a protest on the school campus, students accused the government of lying about the death toll and demanded a list of those injured. 'There were hundreds of students in that academic building. We saw body parts strewn all over the ground. Where are they?' a 17-year-old student, who requested anonymity, told AFP. 'When students and teachers asked this question to the military personnel, they roughed us up,' he said. Some of the students carried placards that read: 'We want justice' and 'Where are the bodies of our brothers and sisters?' Students also stormed the national secretariat in Dhaka, prompting police to use batons and stun grenades, local media reported. Press secretary Ahammed Foyez told AFP that the government had agreed to meet the student's demands. 'We believe the demands raised by the students are legitimate and should be fulfilled,' Foyez said. Teacher Shahadat Hossain, whose son narrowly escaped the crash, was devastated to see the school bereft of its usual buzz. 'Along with the children, the school has lost its life,' he said. 'There are two swings in front of the affected building. During lunch breaks and after school, children play there. Even yesterday, around the time the plane crashed, students were on those swings,' the 45-year-old told AFP. Around 7,000 pupils are enrolled at the school, including Abul Bashar's sixth-grade son whose best friend was killed. 'He came out just two or three minutes before the accident occurred,' said Bashar. 'He couldn't sleep through the night and forced me to bring him to school this morning,' the father added, while his son stood in silence. School authorities have retrieved bags, shoes and identity cards of children from the site. Air Force personnel said remnants of the fighter jet were removed on Monday night, but they were still scouring the site for evidence. 'I don't know how long it will take to return to normalcy, to relieve the children from this trauma,' teacher Hossain said. On Monday night, school authorities held prayers at the campus. Bangladesh's interim leader Muhammad Yunus expressed 'deep grief and sorrow' over the incident and declared a day of national mourning. 'The loss suffered by the Air Force, the students, parents, teachers and staff of Milestone School and College, as well as others affected by this accident, is irreparable,' he said. 'This is a moment of profound pain for the nation.' The military said the pilot, 27-year-old flight lieutenant Towkir Islam, was on a routine training mission when the jet 'reportedly encountered a mechanical failure'. He tried to divert the aircraft away from densely populated areas, but crashed into the two-storey school building. — AFP
