In separate cases, star turtles worth 500 USD & red sanders worth Rs 4 crore seized by DRI

The Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI) officials on Thursday arrested a woman accompanied by two children from the Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (LTT) and seized 523 star tortoise turtles. Each turtle cost $500 in the international market and are mostly exported to Singapore and Hong Kong, officials said.

Acting on specific intelligence, DRI officials in a joint operation with the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCCB) and Forest Department had seized 523 star tortoise turtles from a Coimbatore-LTT Express train passenger at the LTT railway station.

"Turtles are called as buttons. They are an endangered species as per Wildlife Schedule 4. They are mostly exported to Singapore and Hong Kong. Domestic value of each turtle is Rs 10,000 and international market value is 500 USD per turtle," said a DRI official.

The woman had come with children so that nobody suspects her. "She had boarded the train from Andhra Pradesh and was intercepted at Kurla Terminus. She was supposed to deliver the turtles to a man, who did not show up when we apprehended the woman. The case has been transferred to the forest department," said the official.

In another case, the DRI officials on Wednesday seized Red Sanders worth Rs 4.52 crore, which were being attempted to be exported to Malaysia via Nhava Sheva port. The container was identified and examined, accordingly. In the export documents, the goods had been declared as 648 Cartons of "Polyester Yarn" weighing 18.522 Metric Tonnes.

On examining the said consignment, 9,040 kgs of wooden logs of different sizes appear to be Red Sander logs were found concealed with "Draw Textured Yarn of Polyester (Mix Colour)" and rice bags. Rice bags were used to compensate the total weight of declared cargo to avoid any suspicion.

Red Sanders, endemic to the Seshachalam forests of Andhra Pradesh is an endangered species and export of the same is prohibited under the EXIM policy in force.

"One person involved in the said smuggling has been placed under arrest. Red Sanders Wood has a great demand in the Far East Asian countries like China and Japan for its uses in furniture, and in traditional Asian medicine," said the official.