Medan, Ekuatorial – Police had arrested a suspect related to recent pangolin smuggling, said a senior investigator, in Medan, North Sumatra, last April.
Last April, Indonesian National Police’s Criminal Investigation Division (Bareskrim) confiscated at least five tons of slaughtered pangolins (Manis javanica) in Medan, North Sumatra. The bust also managed to save 96 pangolins which will be released back to the forest.
“We manage to declare SB as a suspect who admitted to be running this business for the past six months. Investigators are still collecting evidence. The suspect runs a very tight business, it is not going to be easy to reveal the network,” said deputy director of Specific Crime Unit at the Division Didit Wijanardi to reporter at the demolition of slaughtered pangolins, in Medan, North Sumatra, recently.
Pangolin is protected under the 1990 Law on Conservation of Natural Resources and Its Ecosystem with five years of prison and Rp100 million (US$ 7,674) of fine if proven guilty.
Wijanardi said that pangolin usually sold to other Asian countries, including Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, and China for its scales and meat.
“The bust in Medan is worth of Rp 18.4 billion (US$ 1,4 million). A very huge business. This is the second largest bust, the first was in Palembang,” he said citing the 2008 major bust of at least 13 tons of dead pangolins earning the city as the hub for illegal wildlife trading.
Meanwhile, Minister of Environment and Forestry Siti Nurbaya said that the bust was prove of law enforcement and promised to increase criminal charges on violations in environment and forestry sector. Mei Leandha