The Railway Protection Force (RPF) seized 99 Gangetic softshell turtles from a Malda-bound train from Delhi on Sunday night and arrested a person in this connection.

Sources said a team of RPF from Malda and a team from its intelligence wing were escorting the 13430 Ananda Vihar-Malda Town Express. While the train was about to reach Malda Town station, they noticed a youth in a sleeper coach carrying something heavy in four backpacks.

They informed RPF officers at the station. At 11.30pm, as the train reached the station, the person was detained.

As his backpacks were searched, the turtles were found inside. The youth, Shubham, a resident of Sultanpur district in Uttar Pradesh, failed to produce any document to validate the transportation of the turtles.

“Altogether, 99 turtles were found in four bags. During preliminary interrogation, Shubham revealed he had been carrying the turtles from Varanasi and was supposed to hand them over to someone in Malda,” said a source.

Later, the turtles, along with the youth, were handed over to the Malda forest range officer of the state forest department.

“We have received the turtles from the RPF. Appropriate legal steps will be taken against the person arrested in this connection,” said Sujit Chatterjee, the range officer.

The Gangetic softshell turtle (Nilssonia gangetica) is a critically endangered species as per the red data book of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which lists the vulnerability of animal species across the globe.