Kolkata, Dec 19 (IANS): Two white Himalayan porcupines have been rescued from the clutches of wildlife traffickers at the Burdwan railway station in West Bengal, forest department officials said on Monday.

The three persons who were ferrying these rare species were nabbed by the Government Railway Police (GRP) personnel from a compartment of Kanchanjunga Express late on Sunday night.

The arrested persons have been identified as Ganesh Shaw, Pintu Kumar and Tarun Kumar Ghosh. Tarun Ghosh is a contractual employee with the railways who's from Kolkata, Shaw is a resident of Giridih in Jharkhand, while Kumar is a resident of Delhi.

The GRP officials have handed over the porcupines to the local forest range office.

Forest officer Kajal Biswas told mediapersons on Monday that veterinary officials of the state of forest department are currently examining the health condition of the two rescued animals.

"They seem to be in good health. After check-up, our officials will decide about their next destination," Biswas said.

Initial interrogation has revealed that the porcupines were being taken to Sealdah in Kolkata, where they were supposed to handed over to another person.

The arrested persons have confided that they got the consignment from Dharmanagar in Tripura and boarded the Kanchanjunga Express with the intention of bringing them to Kolkata.