ZCZC
BFF-25
MALAYSIA-INDONESIA-CONSERVATION-ANIMAL
Orangutans saved as Malaysia foils high-seas smuggling bid
KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 24, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – A pair of young orangutans, baby
crocodiles and rare birds were among over 400 animals rescued from a boat off
Malaysia as they were being smuggled from neighbouring Indonesia, officials
said Monday.
Three suspected Indonesian traffickers were arrested after customs
officials thwarted the bid to transport the animals to Thailand in an
operation Friday off the Malaysian holiday island Langkawi.
The unusual cargo included two “frightened-looking” orangutans and dozens
of baby saltwater crocodiles, Malaysian wildlife official Mohamad Zaki Rahim
told AFP.
There were also about 350 sugar gliders — a type of small marsupial —
cockatoos, parrots and parakeets found in boxes on board, he said, adding the
smugglers intended to sell all the animals as pets.
The smugglers were seeking to transport the animals under cover of darkness
in a cargo vessel from the vast, jungle-clad Indonesian island of Sumatra,
through the Malacca Strait to Thailand, customs chief T. Subromaniam told the
Star newspaper.
But Malaysian customs officers received information about the boat and
intercepted it, Subromaniam said.
The arrested Indonesians, who were on the vessel when it was stopped, are
expected to be charged in court for breaking wildlife laws and could face up
to 10 years in jail, Mohamad Zaki said.
Elizabeth John, spokeswoman for wildlife trade watchdog Traffic, said that
the number and variety of animals seized showed “how tremendous the pressure
is on wildlife due to demand for pets”.
Authorities in Malaysia, a tropical Southeast Asian country that is home to
many rare species, regularly thwart smuggling attempts, but finding 400
animals at the same time is unusual.
In June 2017, Thai authorities nabbed a Malaysian trying to smuggle two
juvenile orangutans and some 60 other animals in a taxi through the country’s
southern border.
BSS/AFP/MR/ 1248 hrs