Three held for trying to smuggle tortoises weighing 40 quintals

From correspondents in Uttar Pradesh, India, 04:01 PM IST Busting an international racket involved in the smuggling of tortoises, Uttar Pradesh police have arrested three people in Sultanpur district. Live tortoises weighing over 40 quintals in all were seized, the police said Thursday. 'Those arrested were planning to smuggle the tortoises to Bangladesh. The seized tortoises cost over Rs.50 lakh (Rs.5 million) in the international market,' Sultanpur Superintendent of Police D.C. Mishra told IANS. 'We are still interrogating the smugglers to ascertain the place from which the tortoises were brought,' he added. The smugglers were held from Jagdishpur in Sultanpur, about 140 km from the state capital here,... [read full story]