KANPUR, July 19 -- Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) has seized 171 'Indian Roofed' turtles and arrested a 28-year-old alleged wildlife trafficker in Kanpur, exposing a smuggling network that investigators say supplied the animals to international markets through eastern India. The accused, Zahid Ali of Farrukhabad district's Kamalganj, was arrested on Saturday afternoon near a railway crossing in Harbansh Mohal following a tip-off. The operation was carried out jointly by the STF and the forest department. According to STF, Ali acted as a local collector, sourcing turtles from ponds and riverbeds in Fatehgarh before transporting them to Kanpur. From there, consignments were allegedly moved through Bihar and West Bengal, before being smuggled across the border into Bangladesh and Myanmar and eventually reaching buyers in China, Hong Kong and Malaysia. Officials said the animals were trafficked for multiple purposes, including their meat, the exotic pet trade and the calipee - the soft cartilage from the underside of the shell - which is dried and used in traditional potency medicines. A case has been registered under sections 9, 39, 40, 48A, 51 and 57 of the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. The operation was supervised by ASP, STF, Avnishwar Chandra Srivastava and led by sub-inspector Faizuddin Siddiqui, in coordination with the forest department, Kanpur....