In a pre-dawn operation today, the customs commissionerate (preventive) of Kochi took into custody one Kather Meera, a native of Tirupathur in Shivagangai district of Tamil Nadu, while he was attempting to smuggle out 723 star tortoises at the international airport here. | |
| P Ayyam Perumal, commissioner of customs (preventive) said that the value of the seized tortoises in the international market would be approximately Rs 36 lakh. |
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| Star tortoises are in good demand in South East Asian countries, especially in Singapore and Malaysia due to a popular belief that they bring luck to those who possess them. |
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| "Star tortoises are also used as pets and for medicinal purposes in some South East Asian countries." |
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| He said that the accused had apparently brought the tortoises packed in cardboard cartons from Chennai to smuggle them to Malaysia. |
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| The accused admitted to having smuggled star tortoises out of India on several occasions. It is for the first time that such a case came to light at the international airport here, he said. |
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| Weighing between 15 gms to 250 gms, these tortoises, which are protected under the schedule 3 of the Wildlife Protection Act and prohibited under the Customs Act and Foreign Trade Policy, are easy to carry and fetch between $ 40"�$250 in the markets abroad. |
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| These creatures are found in large numbers in the jungles of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. |
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| Ayyam Perumal said that airports in Kerala had become one of the channels of animal smuggling from India. The department would take serious action to curb the menace, he said. |
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