KARACHI: Thirty-eight turtles, mainly hatchlings, were confiscated during a raid by wildlife officials on a shop on Burnes Road on Tuesday.The Sindh wildlife department took into custody M. Shehzad, one of the two traders running the shop, after confiscating 31 turtle hatchlings and seven one-year-old red-eared turtles.

Deputy conservator wildlife Dr Fehmida Firdous said: “Thirty-one turtle hatchlings — 23 of red-eared turtles and eight of green turtles — and seven red-eared turtles of more than a year of age have been seized during the raid.”

Green turtles (Chelonia mydas), a marine water species, she said, were indigenous and protected under the Sindh Wildlife Ordinance, 1972 whereas red-eared turtles (Trachemys scripta elegans), a freshwater species, were exotic.

“Green turtles are rare and Karachi’s Hawkesbay/Sandspit beaches are among the major nesting places of these turtles in the world. The red-eared turtles are usually imported from Thailand and Brazil,” Dr Firdous said, adding that it was after a long time that a large number of turtles were confiscated by the department as earlier a cache of red-eared turtles had been confiscated about five years ago.

The turtle babies’ growth might have stunted as they were confined to a very small space, she said.

She quoted the trader as saying that he had bought the turtles from a middleman a week ago and that he expected to fetch between Rs 200 and Rs 250 for each baby turtle.

Wildlife department officials said that a case had been registered and the trader could be fined up to Rs 50,000.

The green turtles, they said, would be released into their habitat while the exotic species would be released either into the Keenjhar Lake or Hub Dam.