Kingpin of India’s illegal turtle trade market arrested
ARRESTS MADE LAST YEAR
An international smuggler of rare species of turtles has been arrested by the Madhya Pradesh forest department’s special task force (STF), the force’s officials said.
A four-member STF team led by Ritesh Sirothia, STF (wildlife crime) in-charge, arrested Manivannan Murugesan from Chennai, brought him to Madhya Pradesh via a flight on Thursday and presented him before the special court at Sagar in the afternoon.
The court sent Murugesan to a five-day STF remand, the force’s officials said.
Sirothia said Murugesan was wanted by STF, Wildlife Crime Control Bureau, Uttar Pradesh STF and Interpol for a long time. He was ranked third internationally in the illegal trade of rare species of turtles and was considered the kingpin of India’s illegal turtle trade market.
Murugesan’s name had surfaced first during the interrogation of Ajay Singh whom STF had arrested from Agra in June last year for smuggling Red Crown Rooted Turtle, the officer said.
Singh revealed the trafficking network of turtle smugglers across India. Smugglers took the rare turtles out of the country to Hong Kong and Singapore through two routes — via Chennai–Sri Lanka and Kolkata– Bangladesh.
Murugesan’s name surfaced again during the interrogation of wildlife smuggler Mohammad Irfan who was arrested by the STF in Kolkata few days back, Sirothia said.
Murugesan was a Singaporebased businessman and had illegal trade links in Thailand,
BHOPAL:
March: Azad Singh, resident of MP’s Morena, arrested for turtle trafficking
May: Nand Lal Mongiya, from MP’s Sheopur, arrested for turtle poaching
June: Ajay Singh held from Agra for turtle trafficking Sampatiya Batham, employee of irrigation department , arrested for turtle poaching
August : Ram Singh alias Bhola, UP resident, held for turtle trafficking September : Kailash, resident of Morena, arrested for turtle trafficking
October: Thameem Ansari, resident of Chennai, arrested for turtle trafficking Malaysia, Macau, Hong Kong, China and Madagascar, besides Singapore.
“His arrest will prove to be very significant in busting the international wildlife smuggling network,” he said.
A smuggler, Thameem Ansari was arrested in October last year from Chennai. Apart from him, the arrest of over ten poachers and traffickers led the STF to a bigger turtle trafficking network across the country