Police seizes Indian turtles
Airport Armed Police Battalion (APBn) of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport yesterday evening seized Indian pond turtles that were being smuggled to Malaysia with a declaration of “vegetables”.
The smugglers had packed the turtles in 53 plastic containers.
Following a tip-off, APBn members raided the airport's cargo village. They opened one of the containers and found nine turtles, Alamgir Hossain Shimul, senior assistant superintendent of APBn, told The Daily Star over the phone.
He said the containers were supposed to be sent to Malaysia by a company called Mamun International on a flight that was to leave at 8:30pm yesterday.
Police arrested Faysal Sheul, 25, security in-charge of the company.
All the containers were not opened but Alamgir, after interrogating Faysal, said there were over 400 turtles.
In the international pet market, exotic tortoises and turtles have become popular. Forest officials say that wildlife traffickers have been using Dhaka as a route. They first smuggle in Indian tortoises and turtles by road and then send them to Southeast Asian countries.
“These are Indian pond turtles. A team of the Wildlife Crime Control Unit is on its way to the airport as we have just heard about the incident,” said Tapan Kumar Dey, conservator of forest (Wildlife).
They could not immediately tell the species of the turtles.
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