Visitors surround the carcass of whale shark in Karachi, Pakistan, on Feb 9, 2012. (AP Photo/Fareed Khan)
(AP)

KARACHI, Pakistan - Qasim Khan waged the unlikeliest of battles with Pakistani authorities Thursday over the right to charge hundreds of curious visitors 22 cents each to see a roughly 40-foot whale shark he bought from a fisherman.

Khan is in the business of buying fish, albeit usually much smaller ones, and jumped at the chance on Tuesday to pay about $2,200 for the 20-ton behemoth, which was discovered dead in the Arabian Sea off the southern Pakistani city of Karachi.

Business was brisk Wednesday, as several thousand people paid to see the brown and white-spotted shark, which Khan set up under a cloth tent next to the harbor. People crowded around to put their hands on the massive shark, and families snapped their picture with it, ignoring the pungent smell as it began to rot.

But police cracked down Thursday, saying fishery authorities had decided people should be allowed to see the shark for free. Khan resisted and hid his prize attraction under the giant piece of green cloth he had previously used as a tent.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57373820/pakistani-man-fights-with-cops-over-40-foot-shark/?tag=strip