Straits Times : Jail and fine for smuggling 1,000 tortoises

AUG 03, 2002

Jail and fine for smuggling 1,000 tortoises

Not until promises made at the recently concluded conference in Johannesburg are carried out

AN INDIAN national was caught smuggling more than 1,000 endangered tortoises into Singapore this week.


	The biggest haul of star tortoises discovered at Changi Airport this year, the 1,092 endangered animals are worth about $54,000 in total. -- WONG MAYE-E

Worth about $54,000, they represent the third and biggest haul of star tortoises discovered at Changi Airport this year.

All were brought in illegally by Indian nationals for sale here.

The distinctively-patterned black and yellow star tortoises are considered cute. Adults grow up to 25 cm long.

Yesterday, Chinnamotur Loganathan Ashokavarthanan, 27, was fined $5,000 and jailed eight weeks for smuggling the 1,092 tortoises into Singapore on Wednesday.

He must also pay the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) $10,820 for the cost of caring for the tortoises and sending them back to India, which the AVA plans to do later this month.

The creatures, which are found in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, are now at the AVA's Changi Animal and Plant Quarantine Centre.

In all, more than 2,400 star tortoises worth about $105,000 have been seized at the airport this year.

Under the Endangered Species (Import and Export) Act, first offenders can be fined up to $5,000 and/or jailed for up to 12 months. Subsequent offenders can be fined up to $10,000.