Lucknow: Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) in a joint operation with Madhya Pradesh forest officials on Sunday arrested an interstate wildlife smuggler wanted in a turtle trafficking case registered in Bhopal.“The accused, Ravindra alias Raman, resident of Malihabad in Lucknow, was apprehended from IIM Road under Sairpur police station limits,” STF said.The arrest was made following a request from Bhopal’s forest authorities.“He was wanted in connection with an FIR registered under multiple sections of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972, at the State Tiger Force police station in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh,” said additional superintendent of police, STF, Satyasen Yadav.“During interrogation, the accused revealed that he sourced turtles of banned and protected species from rivers across various districts of UP and supplied them to interstate smuggling networks,” Yadav said. He further added that in 2023, the accused sold as many as 311 protected turtles to a trafficker identified as Ajay Singh Rajput. He was also arrested earlier in 2021 by the STF along with two associates, when 254 turtles were recovered from them.
