Forest personnel seize 1500 turtles, arrest three persons

Bhubaneswar, Dec 31 (PTI) Forest personnel seizedaround 1,500 turtles and arrested three persons for illegallytransporting the animals in Odisha's ...

Bhubaneswar, Dec 31 (PTI) Forest personnel seizedaround 1,500 turtles and arrested three persons for illegallytransporting the animals in Odisha's Malkangiri districttoday.

Acting on a tip-off, a team of Forest personnelintercepted a van at MPV-60 village under Kalimela forestrange area and seized the freshwater turtles, said DivisionalForest Officer (Malkangiri), Samrat Gouda.

Three persons, including one belonging to Kakinada inAndhra Pradesh, were arrested for smuggling the animalsnumbering about 1500 from the neighbouring state, he saidadding that the van bearing Andhra Pradesh registration numberwas also seizedThe turtles were being sent to traders in Malkangirifor sale as these animals are in high demand in the market,Forest officials said adding the arrested persons were bookedunder various provisions of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972and further investigation was on.

Earlier, over 350 rare species of turtles, alsosmuggled from Andhra Pradesh, had been seized in Chitrakondaarea of Malkangiri district in June, 2017. PTI COR SKNRG.

This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.

Related Stories

No stories found.
The New Indian Express
www.newindianexpress.com