Over 100 endangered turtles recovered

A team of forest department officials along with local police confiscated over 100 endangered turtles (in pic above) from a house here on Saturday.

The team of officials also arrested a youth for his alleged involvement in smuggling of turtles during their raid on a house in Nagla Rate under Kotwali area of Mainpuri.

Over 120 turtles of three rare species were recovered during the raid, officials said, adding the endangered turtles were in high demand in India as well as abroad.

Manish Singh, divisional forest officer, said the team of forest department officials along with local police arrested an accused identified as Jitendra on the spot while he was trying to escape.

“The turtles were kept in seven bags in a very bad condition,” he added.

The accused was being interrogated about his and others’ involvement in smuggling of turtles from the area, said the DFO.

The weight of recovered turtles varied from 500 grams to 25 kilograms.

Last month also, a team of forest department officials had recovered 24 turtles from Gihar colony in Mainpuri district, according to sources.

Moreover, the forest department has been constantly receiving information about smuggling of the turtles from Mainpuri area to other parts of the country and outside through West Bengal.

Officials said the recovered turtles would be dropped back in river Chambal.