254 spotted pond turtles found packed in suitcase of Bangkok flight at Kolkata airport

A plan to smuggle out 254 spotted pond turtles from Kolkata to Bangkok was foiled by alert Customs staff at the airport. These turtles are found in Assam, southern Pakistan and Bangladesh, and fall in the category of endangered species protected under the wildlife protection act. It is illegal to trade them.
The turtles confiscated weighed between 200 and 600g each.
This has been reported in telegraphindia.com dated 6 May 2016.

The Bangkok-bound passenger was carrying these turtles in his baggage and successfully managed to bypass the X-ray screening at the airport. However, they were detected during screening by customs officials. The man had an accomplice who had a similar looking baggage and was also bound for Bangkok. And, since his baggage did not have anything illegal, the CISF men gave the security clearance at the X-ray screening.
However, once he got the clearance tags, he passed on to his accomplice who attached the tags on his baggage, which had the turtles. Then he coolly headed for his airline's check-in counter. The problem happened when both the bags were on the conveyor belt. Since these bags go to the customs area, officials picked them up randomly for screening.
This is done for registered baggage meant for international flights and, in the course of these checks, they detected some movement inside the bags. Once the bags were opened, out came the turtles.
And - the man was missing.
The turtles have, since, been handed over to the State forest department officials later took them to the wildlife rescue center in Salt Lake.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org

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