The Government Railway Police (GRP) posted at the Malda Town railway station seized 268 Ganges soft-shell turtles on Wednesday.

Prashant Rai, the inspector-in-charge of the GRP station at the Malda Town station, said the turtles were rescued from a general compartment of the Malda-bound Farakka Express. The train runs between Malda Town and Bhatinda Junction.

“We had a tip-off and raided the general compartment of the train. Altogether, 268 turtles were found in five gunny bags. Around 90 of the turtles were dead,” he said.

“The preliminary probe suggests the turtles were kept in the train somewhere in Uttar Pradesh and were supposed to be taken to South Dinajpur district,” said Rai.

The GRP suspects the turtles were supposed to be smuggled into Bangladesh. The turtles were later handed over to the state forest department.

“We will approach the court, seeking permission to dispose of the dead turtles and release the live ones into their right habitats,” said a forester.