PATNA, Dec. 20 -- The Railway Protection Force (RPF) of East Central Railways (ECR) achieved a major success under 'Operation Wilep' by recovering 102 live turtles from Howrah-Dehradun (13010 Doon Express) train, officials said on Friday. The coordinated effort prevented a large-scale wildlife smuggling attempt.

All the recovered turtles have been safely handed over to the forest department. The estimated value of these turtles in the international market is around Rs.51 lakh.

RPF officials familiar with the matter said when the train arrived on platform 3 of Gaya Junction around 10:30 pm on Thursday, a joint patrol was being conducted on the railway station premises under RPF inspectors Banarsi Yadav and Chandan Kumar of Crime Intellig...