(IN) Man caught for illegally trading turtles

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http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Man-held-for-illegally-trading-turtles-/artic\

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Man held for illegally trading turtles

IANS 4 September 2009, 04:15pm IST

 

CHANDIGARH: A shopkeeper has been arrested here for illegally keeping rare

species of turtles and selling them, police said Friday.

 

Monu Kumar, owner of a meat shop in Sector 37 here, was arrested late Thursday

evening and 15 turtles of three rare species and eight shells were recovered

from his possession.

 

" We got a tip-off from an NGO PFA (People for Animals) about this illegal trade.

We laid a trap and sent an official of PFA as a decoy customer to the shop to

strike a deal. Monu was caught red-handed, " a police officer said.

 

" We have registered a case and started our investigation. We hope to make more

arrests after the interrogation of the accused, " he said.

 

Saurabh Gupta, an official of PFA from Delhi who helped Chandigarh Police in

this case, said: " We had busted a similar racket of illegal trading of turtles

in Delhi a few weeks back. The kingpin of that racket Shabir told us about his

network in various other states and named this shopkeeper of Chandigarh. "

 

The turtles and shells recovered are usually found in south Indian states near

sea shores.