Kanpur: Nearly 1,878 endangered turtles have been seized and two men of Kashmiri origin arrested in the Chakeri area of the city by the Special Task Force’s (STF) Kanpur unit.
The men had stuffed the turtles in sacks, they had concealed the same in a truck along with a consignment of sunmica and they wanted to take the turtles to West Bengal, when they were arrested.
According to the STF spokesman, the two arrested men belong to Kathua area of Jammu & Kashmir and have been identified as Javed and Farukh.
“They confessed that they both are truck drivers and were heading towards West Bengal from Rajasthan with the consignment of sunmica. In the middle of the journey, one Kapoor, a notorious smuggler of Etawah, had contacted them and asked them to transport sacks of turtles to West Bengal in lieu of Rs 60,000. Kapoor had been apprehended earlier also on several occasions,” stated the official STF release.
Smuggling of endangered turtles has become a cause for concern for the Wildlife agencies, as there is no check on the poachers, who are smuggling aquatic endangered species in lieu of money.
A case has been registered against the two arrested Kashmiri men under relevant sections of the Wild Life protection act.
“We are now tracking Kapoor, the notorious smuggler of Etawah who had asked them to deliver the consignment in West Bengal,” said a senior STF official.
IANS