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span class="inline inline-left">Going home: A government official displays three of 19 smuggled Indian star turtles being returned to their original habitat on Thursday. Officials have seized at least 47 Indian star turtles that were smuggled through Soekarno-Hatta International Airport since November last year. JP/Multa FidrusThe Indonesian government repatriated 19 star tortoise (Geochelone elegans), smuggled into the country through Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in November 2011, back to their original habitat in India on Thursday.

“The turtles will fly with Malaysian Airlines to India this evening. We will see them off along with customs officers, airport security, officials form the Forestry Ministry and animal rights activists from International Animal Rescue,” said Musyaffak Fauzi, head of the airport quarantine center.

According to Musyaffak, as many as 61 land turtles were smuggled into the country on Nov. 7 by an unidentified foreigner and were confiscated by customs officers after they were left at terminal 2. Forty-seven of the turtles were identified as Indian star tortoises, but 28 of the protected species died on arrival at the airport.

Customs officers handed down the smuggled turtles to the quarantine center for further handling.

“This is the first ever animal repatriation from Indonesia to other countries under international cooperation. We have several times received repatriation of wild animals from another country,” he said.

He said the smuggling of animals from overseas into the country violated the 1992 Law on Animal, Fish and Plant Quarantines and the 1990 Law on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Conservation.

He said that the robust international market on animal trafficking, which reached up to US$180 billion per year, had triggered the rampant trafficking and smuggling of protected species to and from Indonesia.

Meanwhile, Puja Utama, head of animal distribution control at the Forestry Ministry said that the global population of the Indian star tortoise was about 32,500.

“But if illegal animal trafficking continues, sooner or later the species will be on the brink of extinction,” he said.

He added that in the domestic market, the price of a big Indian star tortoise measuring between 10 and 15 centimeters was tagged at Rp 30 million ($3,296) while the small one measuring less than 10 centimeters was normally sold between Rp 8 million and Rp 10 million.