Jubilee Post News & Views
Jubilee News Desk
An inter-state turtle smugglers’ gang has been arrested with meat of rare specie of turtle in Barabanki, which is said to be first in the country seize of illegal turtle meat smuggling.
SP Barabanki, Dr Aravind Chaturvedi contacted Turtle Survival Alliance (TSA) and developed intelligence about the illegal soft shell turtle smuggling from Amethi, Sultanpur, Raebareli, Barabanki, Bahraich, and nearby districts.
Based on a specific input, the team intercepted goods van and arrested the smugglers along with the illegal contraband on Monday. Upon opening the boxes, the police team was taken by surprise to find the finely chopped pieces of turtle meat kept in dry ice. Fishes were put as a top layer to disguise the consignment.
On interrogation the main accused Ramanand Bhagat told that he has good contacts to sell the meat. Another accused, Guddu told that he had contacts with the local fishermen community who poach turtles for him and chop them in small pieces and pack with dry ice.
He has divulged many names in different states where he used to supply such meat. As a part of strategy, they prefer to carry their transport, this illegal consignment, through the rural areas of Barabanki, Sitapur, Khiri to Pilibhit and Uttarakhand.
The team of TSA including regional Director, Dr. Shailendra Singh, an expert on turtles, Arunima Singh, and their colleagues observed the recovered meat and leg pieces and found that it was of the Indian Soft-Shell Turtle, Zoological name Nilssonia Gangetica and its regional name, ‘Katahwa’.
This comes under Schedule 1 species of Indian Wildlife Protection Act, 1972 and is declared vulnerable by IUCN (International Union for conservation of Nature). The samples will be sent to Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun for further forensic report.
It is noteworthy that out of the 29 species of turtles found in India, 16 are found in the state of Uttar Pradesh. Of these 16, extensive poaching has been reported for 8 species. Broadly, turtles can be divided into two categories, soft-shell and hard-shell. Soft-shell turtles are carnivorous and aggressive and are smuggled for their meat.
Whereas, Hard-shell turtles are vegetarians and submissive and are thus smuggled to be kept as pets. According to the latest Intelligence and crime statistics, living turtles are smuggled through West Bengal to Bangladesh and other countries for their illegal use and trade. Apart from this, soft-shell turtles found in the Ganga and Yamuna catchment area are smuggled for their Calipee (cartilage) by cutting it from their bodies and drying it.
also read : Beef up law and order situation; people are disturbed: Priyanka Gandhi
also read : Former Malaysian PM guilty of corruption : pleads not
