Op Wilep: 102 live turtles seized from Doon Express

The RPF recovered 102 live turtles from the Doon Express train, thwarting a wildlife smuggling attempt valued at ₹51 lakh, and handed them to the forest department.

The Railway Protection Force (RPF) of East Central Railways (ECR) achieved a major success under ‘Operation Wilep’ by recovering 102 live turtles from Howrah-Dehradun (13010 Doon Express) train, officials said on Friday. The coordinated effort prevented a large-scale wildlife smuggling attempt.

On December 15 too RPF had seized several turtles from a train in Bihar (HT FILE)

All the recovered turtles have been safely handed over to the forest department. The estimated value of these turtles in the international market is around ₹51 lakh.

RPF officials familiar with the matter said when the train arrived on platform 3 of Gaya Junction around 10:30 pm on Thursday, a joint patrol was being conducted on the railway station premises under RPF inspectors Banarsi Yadav and Chandan Kumar of Crime Intelligence Branch, Gaya. The team searched coach S3 of the train and found five bags concealed beneath the berths and on the seats of the coach.

“After no passenger claimed the bags, they were opened. We found 102 live turtles inside those bags,” said RPF inspector Banarsi Yadav, adding that the turtle was a protected species under the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 and its smuggling came under the category of serious offence. According to preliminary investigation, the case seemed to be related to inter-state wildlife smuggling. He said the smugglers often used the rail route as they tried to evade surveillance, but the alertness of RPF foiled their plans.

The forest department was immediately informed about the incident.Range officer Arti Kumari reached the RPF post. After necessary formalities, all the 102 turtles were handed over to the forest department for conservation and further action. The process of keeping the turtles in a safe place and their health check-up has been started by the department.

Earlier on Monday, the RPF had recovered 76 live turtles from the general coach of Netaji Express. An FIR against unidentified miscreants was registered in this connection.