MMEA seizes 1,400 tortoises

Illegal trade: Among the tortoises that were recovered. (Inset) Admiral Adam (left) handling some of the tortoises and showing them at the press conference.

KOTA KINABALU: Malaysian coastguards intercepted a boat and rescued 1,400 tor­toises that were being taken out of Sabah for the exotic food market in Vietnam.

Six crewmen, two of them Malay­sians, were arrested when the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) inter­­cepted a boat 1.6 nautical miles from the state capital at 3am.