Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh), Feb 15 (IANS): The Railway Protection Force (RPF) has recovered turtles worth several lakhs at the Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Junction, Mughalsarai in the North East Express, going from New Delhi to Guwahati and arrested nine smugglers.

The breakthrough was made under the supervision of the station in-charge Govindpuri (Kanpur) RPF Suruchi Sharma.

According to Sharma, the value of the 157 small and big turtles recovered from the train has been estimated at around Rs 5.28 lakh.

The weight of the turtles found in 21 sacks is around 400 kg.

The turtles have been handed over to the forest department team at Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Junction, Mughalsarai.

Suruchi Sharma said constables Chandravir Singh, Gautam Chaudhary, Anil and Dharmendra were on security duty on the North-East Express.

"When the train (no. 12506 North East Express) left Mirzapur at 8.15 p.m., the turtles being smuggled in sacks were found in coach number S-1 and S-2 during checking," she said.

They were unloaded from the train when it reached platform number three of Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay Junction, Mughalsarai. The turtles were handed over to the staff of the forest department.