Woman arrested with tortoises

LUCKNOW - A young woman has been arrested in Uttar Pradesh’s Mau district and 40 tortoises recovered from her, police said Saturday.

Seema Banerjee, 28, was arrested Friday evening from Matlupur area, police officer D.K. Sharma said in Mau, some 300 km from Lucknow. “The tortoises were recovered from two air bags she carried.”

She has said she worked for a gang involved in the illegal supply of tortoises and animal skins to clients in Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh and Nepal as well as various states of India.

Police said tortoises that were still alive were handed over to forest officials.