Endangered existence

Gaya, Feb. 15: The consignment of 1,531 tortoises seized by forest department officials yesterday from a vehicle near Barachatti police station could have been headed to Southeast Asia via Calcutta.

Bihar chief wildlife warden Mithilesh Kumar said the origin of most of the turtles seized in Bihar in the recent past is Uttar Pradesh. Those involved in this illegal trade deliver the consignment at Calcutta and from there it is smuggled into some Southeast Asia. In most of the cases poor people are used by well-organised gangs in the form of couriers and the real culprits remain out of the reach of law.

Giving reasons for demand of turtles in Southeast Asian countries, Kumar said some people keep turtles in their homes for good omen, while there is a good market for turtle meat in these countries as well.

Dhrubjyoti Basu, a Lucknow-based wildlife activist and former member of International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) specialist group on freshwater turtles and tortoise, said: “Turtle meat is a highly preferred food in southeast Asian countries as well as China. The vital organs of turtle are used in traditional medicines of this region leading to great demand of turtles in these countries.”

He said in Uttar Pradesh, the concentration of the state forest department was confined to protected areas only and it gives a free hand to turtle smugglers as most of the turtles are found in rivers which do not fall in the protected areas.

Bihar forest department officials had arrested four persons with the 1,531 tortoises yesterday. The total cost of the tortoises is estimated to be worth around Rs 1 lakh in the international market. “According to the statement of arrested persons, the tortoises were being smuggled to Bengal from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh,” said a forest officer, Mohammed Afsar.

Those arrested included Manik Mattoo, Amarnath Bose and Piyush Ghosh of Hijalpur, Ashok Nagar Calcutta and Arjun Biswas of Kalanjar in Bengal. It is not for the first time that tortoises in such a large number have been recovered in the Sherghati sub-division of the district.

On Monday, the forest department officials intercepted the vehicle as they had got a tip off about tortoises being carried from the route.

The arrested persons divulged during the interrogation that the shell of the tortoise was used in making butt of sword. They accepted that cost of the recovered tortoises was worth around Rs 50 lakh in the international market.

As the Grand Trunk road crosses through the Sherghati sub-division of the district the tortoises are smuggled to Calcutta from Varanasi by road. From Calcutta the turtles are sent in the international market by ships. Apart from using its shell, the meat and the eggs of tortoises are also in high demand. The smugglers collect the turtles from different places and then smuggle it.

Prior to the Patna incident, forest officials had seized turtles from Katihar and Purnea and in both these cases the arrested persons had revealed that they had been asked to deliver it the consignment in Calcutta. The Bihar CWW said around 300 turtles packed in a gunny bag were seized from Patna railway station three months back from a Calcutta-bound train.

Kumar said that the state forest department was well aware about the smuggling cartel engaged in this act and field officials of divisions concerned have been put on alert to nab the culprits.

Turtle is a scheduled animal and its trade is banned in India under the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972.