Two held as forest officials seize 230 freshwater turtles near Bhubaneswar

Bhubaneswar, Nov 9 (UNI) Forest officials seized around 230 live Indian flapshell turtles from a Kolkata-bound vehicle at Pipili near Bhubaneswar in Odisha's Khurda district and arrested two suspected wildlife smugglers. Acting on a tip-off, a team of forest officials, assisted by police, intercepted the vehicle and recovered the turtles from its dickey. The arrested persons were identified as Madan Kumar Maiti of Bathuary village and Gautam Jana of Gangadhar village in West Bengal's East Midnapore district. "All the turtles were released into a nearby river on November 8," said Susanta Kumar Bandha, Assistant Conservator of Forests (ACF), Khurda Forest…