Turtle egg seizure in Oaxaca biggest ever made by Federal Police Traffic ticket led to discovery of 22,000 eggs

Turtle egg seizure in Oaxaca biggest ever made by Federal Police

Traffic ticket led to discovery of 22,000 eggs

Monday, April 16, 2018

A routine traffic ticket on a federal highway turned into the largest seizure of contraband turtle eggs ever made by the Federal Police.

The driver of a pickup truck was traveling toward Juchitán, Oaxaca, on the Coatzacoalcos-Salina Cruz highway when police noticed he was crossing the center line.

After he was stopped police proceeded to give him a ticket. But while they were explaining the nature of his infraction, officers noticed his demeanor was “evasive.”

That triggered a close inspection of the back truck, where they found 57 black plastic bags under a blue tarp. Each of the bags contained 400 sea turtle eggs. A final tally revealed there were 22,800 eggs in total.

Although the species of marine turtle was not specified, police said the eggs belonged to one that was endangered.

The driver was unable to produce documents allowing the legal transportation of the turtle eggs, so he was arrested and and charged with crimes against wildlife and animal species.