GUANGZHOU DAILY (China) 10 January 11 Turtle thieves sought
Police in Lianjiang, Guangdong Province are searching for thieves who assaulted a female turtle farmer and stole 28 rare three-stripe box turtles (also known as golden coin turtles) from a local farm on December 31. These turtles, which are classified as critically endangered are worth of more than 4 million yuan ($606,888).
The woman surnamed Zheng said she returned home around 9:50 am after purchasing some vegetables, and took out her keys to open the door.
"Some criminals followed me and pushed me into the room. One choked me and taped my mouth. They used knife to threaten me and beat me. Then, they used ropes to tie up my feet and hands."
The thieves then went to the second floor and took 28 turtles, 8 males and 20 females, each weighing about 2 kilograms. A newborn turtle is worth of 25,000 yuan, Zheng said. "Last year, I borrowed money to raise these turtles."
About 10 minutes later, Zheng heard the men leave. Other witnesses said they saw some men with two heavy plastic bags to run to a black car parked on the road 100 meters away. A turtle fell out of a bag when they got in the car, but was picked up.
Around 10:14 am, Zheng managed to untie herself and called her husband who called police who are still searching for the robbers.
Turtle thieves sought