Forest officials with the seized turtles at Bhubaneswar railway station. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, Aug. 27: Forest officials have busted an inter-state smuggling racket and seized 122 Indian softshell turtles from two persons.

The Railway Protection Force (RPF) last night seized 81 turtles from Bhubaneswar railway station. One of the accused was carrying the turtles to Bengal in the Howrah-bound Jagannath Express.

Turtles are protected under Schedule I of the Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. Buying or selling these amphibians is a criminal offence, which attracts imprisonment up to seven years.

After the railway police arrested Durga Sankar Manna, 38, of East Midnapore, forest officials arrested one Gandu Sikari from Puri district, who had allegedly supplied the turtles. Manna allegedly used to buy turtles from Sikari at a price between Rs 50 and Rs 60 and sell them in Bengal at higher rates.

An official said turtle meat was in a great demand outside the state.

“The behaviour of Manna, who boarded the train from Sakhigopal, was apparently suspicious. Other passengers suspected that he was transporting cannabis in two sealed sacks. When we seized the bags, we found 81 turtles inside them,” said inspector in charge of RPF post, Bhubaneswar, Barun Kumar Behera.

Later, the RPF handed over Manna to officials of the city forest division. On the basis of information gathered from his interrogation, forest officials arrested Sikari and seized 41 turtles from his possession. A forest official said the seized turtles weighed between 500 grams and 1.5 kilogram each.

“Investigations revealed that Sikari used to catch turtles from water bodies in Puri district and sell them to Manna. The duo have been involved in this racket for nearly two years,” said a forest official.

The two were arrested under the Wildlife Protection Act. “The turtles seized from Bhubaneswar were released into a water body in Chandaka and those seized from Puri were handed over to the forest range concerned,” said range officer of Mancheswar Prasanna Kumar Parida.

Forest officials have seized a number of turtles from the city in the past, most of which were being kept for decorative purposes. But yesterday’s seizure has rung the alarm bell. “We have come across several cases of turtles being sold in the recent past. But this is the first time we have come across an inter-state smuggling case,” said a forest official.