Five arrested with rare tortoise

Kathmandu: The Kathmandu police on Saturday arrested five persons along with a rare tortoise from Kalanki in Kathmandu.

A joint team from the Metropolitan Crime Division and the Metropolitan Police Circle, Kalimati made the arrest acting on a tip-off that they were smuggling the yellow-coloured 700 grams and 12 inches long turtle to Kathmandu from Chitwan, said Senior Superintendent of Police Deepak Thapa.

The arrestees have been identified as Sarba Raj Budha, of Bheriganga in Surkhet, Surendra Shrestha and Pramod Baskota, both of Belkotgadhi municipality-5 in Nuwakot, Santosh Ramtel of Namobuddha municipality-8 in Kavrepalanchok and Rupesh Timilsina of Rautahat.

They had a deal to sell the tortoise for Rs 3.5 million, according to preliminary investigations. The Metropolitan Police Circle is investigation into the matter.