MALKANAGIRI, Nov. 25: Malkangiri forest officials have seized 994 soft shell turtles which were loaded in a van near MV 19 village. Two namely, Mahadev Mondal and Gopal Roy were arrested in this connection yesterday.
Official sources said they had received information of the illegal transport and sale of turtles and had ordered a raid. The DFO Mr Abhiram Nayak asked the forest ranger S C Khuntia to intercept a van. The two accused confessed that the rare turtles were brought from Darakonda area of Andhra Pradesh at a rate of Rs 10 per kg and were sold at Rs 60 per kg. They also informed that at times they used to transport them to West Bengal where it fetches a better price.The seized turtles were released in the Satiguda dam. Basically this particular specie, Lissemys Punctata is found on river banks of Ganga, Mahanadi and others. n sns
[dohtml]<span class="sidenote" title="
"></span>[/dohtml]
Official sources said they had received information of the illegal transport and sale of turtles and had ordered a raid. The DFO Mr Abhiram Nayak asked the forest ranger S C Khuntia to intercept a van. The two accused confessed that the rare turtles were brought from Darakonda area of Andhra Pradesh at a rate of Rs 10 per kg and were sold at Rs 60 per kg. They also informed that at times they used to transport them to West Bengal where it fetches a better price.The seized turtles were released in the Satiguda dam. Basically this particular specie, Lissemys Punctata is found on river banks of Ganga, Mahanadi and others. n sns
[dohtml]<span class="sidenote" title="
"></span>[/dohtml]