About 2,000 rare freshwater turtles, whose meat is sold as an aphrodisiac on the black market, were rescued from poachers in a north Indian town on Monday after a tip-off from a resident, police said. The turtles were found packed into sacks in a house in Jaswant Nagar town in Uttar Pradesh state about 200 km (125 miles) west of the state capital, Lucknow, and are estimated to have a street value of about US$23,600. Police said they had arrested five men believed to be planning to ship the turtles to the eastern state of West Bengal, and possibly other Asian countries such as Thailand and Malaysia, where eating them is believed to stimulate sexual desire.

"Preliminary investigations suggest that a large chunk of the contraband finds its way to Southeast Asian countries, where turtle meat is converted into crunchy chips for convenient consumption," said Ram Kumar, police chief of Etawah district in Uttar Pradesh.

Police said this was the second case of turtle poaching in the district since December when around 1,000 turtles were saved from poachers by wildlife officials. "Etawah was being used as a transit point for poachers, who picked up turtles from the Chambal river, which is rich in the species," said Kumar, adding that the turtles had been released back into the river.

According to the Turtle Survival Alliance, India has 28 species and subspecies of tortoises and freshwater turtles, making it one of the most diverse chelonian faunas in the world. India ranks among the top five Asian countries in terms of its importance for turtle conservation, but nearly 40 percent of the species are listed as endangered on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) Red List.
(Planet Ark, 09/01/2007)