WEYMOUTH SeaLife Park has seen an instant baby boom in turtles – after snapping up more than 200 of them that arrived illegally at Heathrow Airport.

The Mississippi Map turtles – each the size of a 50 pence piece – were seized by customs officials after they were flown in from the US.

They were destined for the British pet trade but the importers didn’t have the correct paperwork and so they were seized.

The baby reptiles – worth a total of £2,000 – have been handed over to the SeaLife centres in Weymouth, and Scarborough.

The Weymouth attraction is the home to Britain’s first purpose-built turtle sanctuary.

It already has about 40 different species of turtles but now its numbers have nearly quadrupled overnight after taking in 110 of them.

Claire Little, a marine expert at Weymouth SeaLife Park, said: “Apparently there was no question of this being an attempt to smuggle them through and these were captive-bred turtles of a species that is not endangered.

“Somebody just made a mistake but there are so many rogue traders trying to smuggle animals of all kinds illegally that customs officials have to enforce the rules very rigidly.

“The numbers of our turtles here now have instantly shot up by their arrival.”

And the 100 turtles to be housed in Scarborough have arrived just in time for the opening of its own freshwater turtle sanctuary and breeding facility.

Aquarist Todd German said: “We will now have a spectacular nursery attraction teeming with turtle tots.”

The Mississippi Map turtles are named after the US state they are native to.

Because of their small size they are popular pets for private aquariums.

The males grow to about 6in in length while the females reach about 10in. They can live for up to 40 years.