Two persons were detained for attempting to smuggle 210 Indian star tortoises at Chennai airport on Sunday night, according to a press release.
Safur Ali, 33, and Mohamed Thamim Ansari,27, were detained in the international terminal when they were about to fly to Bangkok. On suspicion, when the officials examined their baggage, they found sweetboxes and a few other food items. When they opened them, they found tortoises concealed beneath chocolates. The boxes also had holes in them to help the tortoises breathe. The two passengers had concealed 130 and 80 tortoises respectively.
They were detained based on information that flights bound for South East Asian nations including Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore may have star tortoises.
The export of star tortoises is prohibited under Wildlife Protection Act 1972 and were seized under Customs Act, 1962 read with Wildlife Protection Act 1972 and International Convnetion CITES. These are traded for food, in traditional medicines and some even have them as exotic pets, the release said adding that the tortoises were then handed over to the Forest Department.
