A youth from Jharkhand studying in Calcutta was arrested in New Alipore on Wednesday night for allegedly trading in the Indian Star Tortoise (Geochelone elegans), listed as an endangered species.

Rohan Ranjan, 24, had been arrested in August 2017 on the same charge and was out on bail, an officer of the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau’s Calcutta unit said.

Ranjan is pursuing a master’s course in computer application at a private university in New Town.

A team comprising officers of the bureau and the state forest directorate allegedly intercepted Ranjan near a petrol pump at the New Alipore crossing with a bag containing 10 Indian Star Tortoises and arrested him.

“Online advertisements on animals had led the sleuths to him last time. Since then he had refrained from giving ads on popular platforms but he was active on WhatsApp and trading sites accessed by potential buyers. We had information that he was back in business after being granted bail,” an officer said.

The bureau had been tracking Ranjan, who sleuths said had contacts in Mumbai and Chennai, and got to know that he was in possession of some tortoises. He had allegedly sourced the tortoises from Chennai through a carrier.

“Our men contacted him posing as buyers. A meeting place was fixed but he changed the location a couple of times before deciding on New Alipore,” the officer said.

Sources said each Indian Star Tortoise fetched between Rs 2,000 and Rs 5,000 in the grey market.

Ranjan, from Jharkhand’s Ghatshila, has been remanded in judicial custody for two days. The youth has been charged under several sections of the Wildlife Protection Act and faces three to seven years in jail if convicted.

The Indian Star Tortoise, found in semi-arid regions of Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and other areas, is categorised as “vulnerable” on the “red list” of endangered species of the International Union for Conservation of Nature.