One tonne turtles seized on Odisha-Andhra border, 2 arrested

Malkangiri (30/09/2024): The Forest department officials on Monday busted an inter-state tortoise smuggling racket and seized around one ton of tortoises at Rajulkonda, on the Odisha- Andhra Pradesh border. The sleuths also arrested two miscreants in connection with the seizure. Acting on a tip off that a large number of tortoises are being smuggled from Narasinghapatna in Andhra Pradesh to Kalimela MV79 in Malkangiri, Chitrakonda ranger Banamali Nayak formed a team and intercepted a vehicle at Rajulkonda, on the Odisha-Andhra Pradesh border.

They carried out a thorough checking of the vehicle and seized tortoises weighing around one ton packed in 35 sacks .