406 Star tortoises seized, two women arrested

Vijayawada: Officials of the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) on Tuesday arrested two women, train passengers, and seized 406 Indian Star tortoises from them at Vijayawada railway station. 

Thewomen were taking these tortoises in four cloth bags in the Vivek Express from Kanyakumari to Dibrugarh. The accused have allegedly collected these tortoises from one person in Kadiri of Prakasam district. It was planned to handover them to a person in Bhuvaneswar in Orissa.

As per the Wild Life Protection Act of 1972, the transportation of Indian Star tortoise is prohibited and is illegal. The officials have booked a case and launched investigation. The406 tortoises are of different sizes and are transported with the objective of exporting them to Bangladesh from Bhuvaneswar.  

The DRI officials have called the Forest department officials for verification of the seized tortoises. Forest officials from Vijayawada and Eluru went to the Railway station and identified these tortoises are Indian Star tortoises, which are considered as endangered species in India. 

International Union for Conservation of Nature has also declared these star tortoises are endangered specifies. The scientific name of the tortoises is Geocheloneelegans. The DRI officials have handed over these tortoises to the forest department officials in Vijayawada for the safe custody. Case was booked on the two women passengers and further investigation to be continued in Kadiri and Bhuvaneswar.