Customs foil attempt to smuggle 206 live Star Tortoises to Malaysia

The Sri Lanka Customs has seized 206 live star tortoises about to be smuggled out to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia a Customs official said today.

Based on intelligence, Biodiversity, Cultural and National Heritage Protection Division of Sri Lanka Customs  had seized the  Star Tortoises on Saturday at the Bandaranaike International Airport.

 The tortoises  had been stuffed inside cloth sacks and then packed into six boxes describing as “Dried Sea Foods”.

The Customs explained Sri Lankan Star Tortoises is the same species (Geochelone elegans) as that found in India and Pakistan but has a specific geographic identity. It is one of the most beautiful tortoise species found in the world and due to the same reason they have been highly sought after in the illegal pet trade especially in the South East Asian countries.

As a result, the species has become threatened with extinction and included in the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of species and also in the Appendix I of the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).

Assistant Superintendents of Customs Prasad Ekanayake, Yashodha Kotuwegedara, KKMD Rasanga and MGD Tharaka involved in this seizure and further investigations conducted by the Biodiversity, Cultural and National Heritage Protection Division of Sri Lanka Customs.