Rare turtle found in Shanghai Customs check on foreign vessel

Shanghai Customs have seized two hawksbill sea turtles smuggled by a seaman on a Panama vessel, the department announced Thursday.

According to customs, officers found two hawksbill turtles packed in a paper box in a seaman's room during a routine check of the vessel at a dock on Jungong Road on June 6.

After questioning, the seaman said he bought the two specimens in Thailand and wanted to take them home through this voyage.

Now the case has been handed to the anti-smuggling department.

Hawksbill turtles are a very rare marine creature which have been listed in the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. 

In China they are a second-class protected animal — any smuggling of the hawksbill turtle or its by-products will be punished by law.