The Indian Express (Delhi Edition)

Carrying 100 baby turtles in a bag on scooter, wildlife smuggler arrested

A TIP- OFF received by police on Tuesday about a smuggler’s bid to transport banned turtles prompted officials at Delhi’s Geeta Colony Police Station to set up a trap. A team led by Inspector Satyawan kept vigil in areas including Raja Ram Kohli Marg and beneath the Pusa Road flyover in Geeta Colony. This led to the arrest of a 38- year- old man, and a total of 100 baby turtles were recovered from him, police said on Wednesday.

The accused, identified as Bheem, has been involved in a smuggling operation of turtles and other species, police were told during interrogat­ion. The accused is a resident of Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh. He further revealed that a case was recently registered against his associate

Ravi Bhatnagar at the Nandgram Police Station, in Ghaziabad, for a similar offence.

“He procures the turtles from Ganga in Garhmuktes­hwar area called Garh Ganga and from the subsidiary rivers,” said DCP ( Shahdara) Surendra Choudhary.

He added that a search operation was underway to apprehend Bhatnagar. On Tuesday, the team spotted Bheem on a scooter around 1: 15 pm, carrying a large bag while coming from Shakarpur. After he was by the informant as the suspected smuggler, the man was apprehende­d.

Upon inspection of the bag, police found several live turtles. Bheem failed to provide a satisfacto­ry explanatio­n for possessing them, following which the team apprehende­d him while seizing his scooter along with the recovered turtles.

The Delhi Police has lodged a case against Bheem at the Geeta Colony Police Station under Sections 9/ 39/ 50/ 51 of the Wildlife Protection Act and Section 11( A) of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, simultaneo­usly passing the informatio­n about the seizure to the official of Wildlife Department.