Four arrested with 150 rare tortoises

Lucknow, Jan 26 Four men have been arrested in Mainpuri district of Uttar Pradesh for possessing 150 tortoises of a rare species, police said Monday.“Acting on a tip-off, we intercepted the four men in the Daree locality and seized the Indian tent tortoises from the sacks they were carrying,” police inspector Mahipal Singh told IANS on telephone. Mainpuri is some 200 km from here.


He said the men were arrested Sunday and have been jointly interrogated by the police and forest department officials. He claimed they belong to a tortoise smuggling racket operating from Kolkata.

All the tortoises recovered are listed under the Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act.