Malaysia has seized 330 endangered ploughshare and Indian Star tortoises that were smuggled into the country, customs officials at KL International Aairport said today.

The tortoises had been flown into the country from Madagascar on May 14, and were documented in the flight's manifest as stones, Abdul Wahid Sulong, deputy director of KLIA Customs, told reporters.

The tortoises are valued at RM1.2 million, and the local address to which they were shipped was found to be false, he added.

Ploughshare tortoises are endemic to Madagascar, and are listed as critically endangered on International Union for Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species due to poaching.

Malaysia has been singled out by wildlife conservationists as a transit point for the illegal trafficking of endangered species to other Asian countries.

Earlier this month, Malaysia seized more than US$2 million worth of scales from pangolins, the world's most poached animal, at KLIA in the largest haul seen in the country.

- Reuters