Baikunthapur forest division personnel on Monday arrested a person and recovered two turtles from him here.

Foresters said the turtles were brought from Bihar. “We conducted a raid at the Siliguri Regulated Market and seized two Indian soft-shell turtles. The person arrested had got the turtles from Bihar and planned to sell those for meat,” said a forest officer.

According to foresters, sale and consumption of the meat of this turtle species is illegal.

Bittu Das, the arrested, is a resident of Baribhasa on the outskirts of Siliguri. The turtles were later released at the Bengal Safari Park here.

‘Smuggler’ held

Troops of 21 battalion of the Border Security Force (BSF) posted in Berubari I border outpost of Jalpaiguri district apprehended an alleged Bangladeshi smuggler on Sunday while he was trying to cross the India-Bangladesh border.

The person has been identified as Tapan Roy, a resident of Thakurgaon district of the neighbouring country.

Also, the BSF in the course of drives in different locations under the north Bengal frontier on Sunday night also seized a number of contraband items including cough syrup bottles worth Rs 1.13 lakh.

Cannabis seizure

In Cooch Behar, the Narcotics Control Bureau carried out a raid in Maghpala area under the Sitalkuchi police station of the district on Monday and seized an illegal consignment of cannabis. Two persons, Arjun Mandal and Prashanta Mandal, were arrested in this connection.