Large amount of dried turtles seized

Police yesterday recovered about 100kg of dried turtle and arrested one in this connection from a border village under Dinajpur.
The arrestee was identified as Md Abdus Sobhan 25, son of Md Waj Uddin of Kanojpur village.
This was the third time that dried turtle was recovered in the last one year, said police and Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) officials.
Acting on a tip off, a police team of Dinajpur Police Station raided Sobhan's house and recovered the dried turtle crammed in 10 sacks, said police sources.
During interrogation, Sobhan told the police that the dried turtle was smuggled from India through Harialpur border on Monday and yesterday they were to take it to Dhaka.
Md Mahabubur Rahman of the same village smuggled the turtle into Bangladesh, he said.
Officer-in-Charge of Dinajpur Police Station Aslam Iqbal said the dried turtle recovered was worth Tk 15 lakh.
On June 26 last year, BGB officials recovered 124kg of dried turtle from Nawabganj upazila in Dinajpur. Again 22 days later on July 18, 110kg of dried turtle was seized from bordering Birampur upazila.
Dried turtle is of high demand in international market, costing around $160 (Tk 12,000) per kg, sources said adding that traders smuggle it through Bangladesh to other countries.