smuggler nabbed, star turtles seized

Kadapa: The forest officials took one person into custody and seized 220 star turtles from him in Rayachoti on Wednesday night. On a tip off, the forest rangers rushed to the spot in the dead of the night and took into custody one of the smugglers, Malgoor, while the others escaped. Speaking to the media here on Thursday, the Rayachoti Forest Officer Subhadra Devi said that a massive hunt had been launched to nab the other smugglers. She said that the star turtles would fetch over Rs 10 lakh in the international market. She said that the smugglers were trying to shift the turtles to Benguluru.