Seafood being smuggled to KSA through Dubai after import ban

Smuggling of fresh seafood to Saudi Arabia is going through Dubai transit after the Kingdom placed restrictions on import of Indian, Bangladeshi and Pakistani fish and shrimp products recently, fisheries sources said on Friday. “Saudi municipal administration banned sales of fisheries items exported from sub-continent countries after finding pig-meat ingredients in Indian farm fish and shrimp,” sources said, adding that the Pakistani seafood export also suffered for not qualified to the Kingdom’s food specifications.  About a couple of weeks ago, Kuwait had also rejected Pakistan’s consignments of fresh seafood products for being unsuitable for human consumption, for which exporters of frozen fish and shrimp products widely held Marine Fisheries Department (MFD) responsible. Sources said that both Saudi Arabia and Kuwait were the major markets for Pakistani fresh seafood items. They feared that losing of either market will pull down the country’s annual foreign exchange earning from fisheries sector.  “India’s farm fish and shrimp outstretched their shares to upstage export of Pakistan in Middle East but soon were found with prohibited substance of pig-meat in the kingdom major cities, which also caused import and sales restriction to Pakistani seafood too,” sources said.