Summary:
Meera Bhardwaj ByExpress News ServiceBENGALURU: A 17-year-old diploma student in Chikkamagaluru has been found to be the kingpin of a big network involved in smuggling of tortoises/turtles. Forest officials busted the network after a month-long probe and to their shock, found that the youth was the brain behind the network and had even motivated others in trading of different species of tortoises. The Forest Police Cell and Chikkamagaluru RFO Shilpa and her team nabbed the tortoise/turtle smugglers based on a tip-off. According to Bengaluru (Urban) honorary wildlife warden A Prasanna Kumar, pangolins are found in open patches of grasslands in Devanahalli, Hesaraghatta, Nelamangala and Kaggalipura. With checking at these borders being slack, a conduit manages to smuggle in 1-2 kg of scales on a daily basis, according to officials..