Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Wildlife smugglers eye emerging airports

Madurai: On Sunday evening, officials at the Madurai International Airport seized a rather unusual consignment - that of 247 star tortoises, and arrested one person for attempting to smuggle them out of the country. Usually, the seizures at this airport are in the form of either drugs or gold, but this is the first time that tortoises were seized. The seizure of live tortoises has indicated that wildlife smugglers are looking at emerging airports where international routes are coming up.

The accused Abdul Alim, 60 from Ilayankudi in Ramanathapuram district was remanded in judicial custody till October 12. Forest officials estimated that the worth of the seized consignment could be worth Rs 70 to 80 lakh since each star tortoise is priced between US $300 and 500. They are favourite pets in Malaysia, Hong Kong and Singapore.
Alim, a conduit confessed that he secured them from some people in Chennai and was taking them to Kuala Lumpur through Colombo.
29/09/15 Times of India
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