Overseas-based Guyanese charged for smuggling singing birds

Guyanese businessman Nazir Khan, who resides overseas, is accused of illegally exporting Towa-Towa birds. He was on Friday arraigned before Senior Magistrate Sunil Scarce at the Diamond-Golden Grove Magistrates’ Courts on an allegation detailing that on June 19, at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport (CJIA) at Timehri, East Bank Demerara, he exported live animals; that is to say, five Towa-Towa birds (Sporophila angolensis) by land without a licence/permit, contrary to section 27 (1) of the Wildlife Conservation and Management Act.
Khan was represented by Attorney-at-Law Bernard Da Silva, who asked the magistrate to strike out the charge on the basis that it is bad in law. In so doing, he submitted that the section of the statute under which his client is charged does not relate to the particulars of the charge.
Accordingly, Magistrate Scarce informed Khan that he would not be allowed to enter a plea to the charge, the prosecution was given two weeks to respond to Da Silva’s argument, and the case was set for recall on August 2, for the magistrate to rule on the issue. Khan, meanwhile, has been placed on bail.
Reports indicate that Khan had been charged with a similar offence in 2014, but that charge had been dismissed after the court had ruled that the section of the law under which the charge was filed does not cover the Towa-Towa species.
Reports are that on June 13, 2014, Khan was an outgoing passenger at the CJIA, destined for the USA, when 22 small singing birds were found in hair curlers in his hand luggage. Khan had told the court then that he was unaware that he had to get a permit to transport the birds. He had apologised, and had said that the birds were for his personal amusement.