Rourkela: Forest officials have seized around 60 turtles of endangered species while being smuggled and arrested one person in Odisha’s Sundargah district.
As per reports, a team of Forest officials from Jharigaon range, led by Ranger Govind Nayak was carrying out patrolling in Kangra section on Monday night. While the Forest officials, including forester Gupta Prasad Mohanty, forest guard Anant Kumar Jhankar, had stopped at Jadamba square for some time, they found a person carrying a heavy bag on a motorcycle.
On suspicion, the Forest officials stopped the biker. When they checked the bag, they found 62 live turtles inside. They took the man along with the turtles to Jharigaon range office.
The man was identified as Dhiraj Mistry of Kadabhatta UV 22. During questioning, he admitted that he was smuggling the turtles from Kalahandi for sale in Kadabhattta. The turtles belonged to an endangered species, the sources said.
The Forest officials arrested Mistry and forwarded him to court on Tuesday.
