Shoe-maker gets back snakeskin sandals made for PM Khan as Eid gift after paying Rs 50,000 fine

A famous Pakistani shoe-maker who made sandals from snakeskin for Prime Minister Imran Khan as an Eid gift, which was confiscated by authorities for violating the country's Wildlilfe Act, got the shoes back after he paid a hefty fine of Rs 50,000.

Officials from the Wildlife Department in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa raided the shop Nooruddin Shinwari in Jehangir Pura Bazar in interior Peshawar City and confiscated two pairs of traditional Peshwari sandals, made from snakeskin.

Such sandals are famously known as 'Kaptaan special chappals' and the snakeskin shoe was made as Eid gift for the cricketer-turned-politician by the shoe-maker.

He claimed that the serpentine material had been sent from the US to his shop to craft two pairs, one for the donor and one for Prime Minister Khan to slip on.

The department took action against Shinwari, after a District Forest Officer (DFO) went to his shop as a decoy customer on Sunday and asked for a pair of sandals from the salesman.

He seized the sandals and later sent them to the lab for verification.

Shinwari got the sandals back on Monday, after paying a hefty fine of Rs 50,000 and signing an affidavit that he would not use the skin of an exotic animal in footwear again.

"I have got the chappal (sandals) back after paying a fine of Rs 50,000 and now I will present it to Prime Minister Imran Khan as an Eid gift," Nooruddin was quoted as saying by the DawnNewsTV.

Confirming this, a Sub-Divisional Forest Officer Amir Ali said that "the craftsman was slapped a fine of Rs 50,000 after it was found that the sandals were made of python leather."