CHENNAI: The Railway Protection Force (RPF) seized as many as 50 star tortoises, which were to be sent to Surat on a train at the Central station here on Thursday. The sender had declared the consignment as ornamental fish.
The attempt to transport star tortoises by trains was thwarted following a tip-off received by Wildlife - Crime Control Bureau (WCCB), which in turn alerted the Railway Protection Force about the consignments on board of Navjeevan Express, which was scheduled to leave Chennai Central Railway Station by 9.35 am.
The RPF personnel led by Inspector N Alagarsamy who checked the parcels barely 30 minutes before the departure of the train didn’t want to tamper the consignment unless it proved to have tortoises in it.
Therefore, Alagarsamy sought the help of BDDS team and asked them to scan the consignments, which showed movement but the images did not match any of the ornamental fish varieties.
The consignment was opened and it revealed 15 star tortoises stuffed in two pillow covers and 20 in another pillow cover. The consignment was seized and handed over to WCCB.
Preliminary investigations revealed that the parcel was booked by Andhra Rail Cargo Service, an authorised freight-handling agency operating on Wall Tax Road.
The current seizure of tortoises comes after the seizure of three ordinary tortoises three years back on a stabled train at Chennai Central.
Investigations are on to establish the sender of the consignment.
In all, 10 kg of marijuana, 3.5 kg of gold and 1.5 kg of gold were seized by the RPR in May alone.