Man held for possessing star tortoises

Chennai, Nov 28: The customs officials at Chennai Airport arrested a man for carrying star tortoises worth Rs eight lakh when he was about to board a Chennai-Kuala Lumpur flight early today.

The passenger Md Jaffer (55), hailing from Ilayampadi in Ramanathapuram District had two suitcases. When the officials opened one of them, they found 909 star tortoises in it, the airport police said.

The police seized the reptiles and arrested the man. The tortoises were handed over to the forest department.

A case had been registered and investigation was underway, the police added.

UNI