Endangered turtle species recovered from Rishikesh-Howrah Exp

A Railway Protection Force (RPF) team recovered as many as 48 live turtles, including an endangered species allegedly being smuggled to Kolkata, from a train at Sasaram station on Tuesday evening, officials said on Wednesday

A Railway Protection Force (RPF) team recovered as many as 48 live turtles, including an endangered species allegedly being smuggled to Kolkata, from a train at Sasaram station on Tuesday evening, officials said on Wednesday.

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The RPF team, based on a tip-off, carried out inspection in a coach of Rishikesh-Howrah Express at the station, following which they recovered the turtles from four bags, inspector PK Rawat said.

However, the smugglers succeeded in escaping. The recovered turtles were handed over to the forest department, Rawat Said.

According to divisional forest officer (DFO), Rohtas, Pradyumn Gaurav, two of the recovered turtles were 1.5 feet long and belonged to a rare Indian Softshell variety. The rest of the turtles were of the Indian flapshell variety found in rivers Ganga and Indus, and stagnant water bodies, he said.

Officials suspect that the turtles were poached and brought from Rishikesh to be sent to Kolkata for supply in the international smuggling market. The Indian shoftshell turtles are in high demand as pets and also for their meat, officials said.

Some of the recovered turtles are endangered species listed in schedule 1 of Wildlife Protection Act, and poaching and trafficking of the species is punishable with three to seven years’ imprisonment and forfeiting of property, the DFO said.

He said the seized turtles will be produced in a court and released in River Ganga after due permission.