The forest department was bale to nab two turtle smugglers at Uchawade Cross, Khanapur taluk on Wednesday.
The accused have been identified as Vinayak Jyotiba Jagrat (22) of Kineya village of Belagavi taluk and Sandeep Narayan Juvekar (20), a resident of Shahapur in Belagavi. Forest personnel have recovered the turtle and two bikes from the accused.
Deputy conservator of forests B V Patil, assistant conservator of forests Patil along with range forest officer S S Ningane and team, in the guise of customers approached the accused.
The accused demanded a sum of Rs.15 lakhs for the species named `Leathery’ which have 12 nails.
Forest officials say it is very likely that the turtle would have been sold to black magic practitioners.