Customs seize 200 smuggled turtles

Customs officers from Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region have returned more than 200 endangered black pond turtles that had been smuggled into the country from Pakistan.

The animals were handed over to Pakistani officials in the Khunjerab Pass that connects the two countries on Monday, and will be set free in a national park near Karachi.

The turtles were smuggled through the Khunjerab land port by a Pakistani businessman on June 13. Customs officers, who had received a tipoff, stopped the suspect's pickup at a checkpoint and found the turtles.

Five suspected buyers from China and a Pakistani middleman were caught later. All the suspects face charges.

Pakistan is one of the main habitats of the black pond turtle. The animal is listed on the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.

Customs officers across China confiscated more than 120 tons of endangered animals and plants during the first seven months of 2014, Liu Xiaohui, director of General Administration of the China Customs' Anti-Smuggling Bureau, said on Monday.

China Customs lunched a six-month campaign targeting ivory smuggling in June, Liu said.