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orest rangers of the forestry agency in Blangkejeren, Gayo Lues regency, Aceh, have allegedly been involved in a Sumatran tiger poaching syndicate around the Mount Leuser National Park (TNGL).

The allegations followed the arrest of a forest ranger about to sell the skin and bones of Sumatran tigers they reportedly poached in the national park area located in North Sumatra and Aceh provinces.

The ranger was identified as Salman Alaina, 35, of Kuta subdistrict, Rikit Gaib district, Gayo Lues.

The head of the TNGL center, Andi Basrul, said Salman was arrested together with a local named Sulman, 48, at Lawe Mamas hotel, Kutacane, Aceh, by a joint team comprising officers from the local police and the TNGL.

'€œBoth are facing five years imprisonment for violating Law No. 5/1990 on nature conservation,'€ Andi Basrul told The Jakarta Post on Friday.

Basrul said the team also seized evidence including a tiger skin and two kilograms of tiger bones.

The suspects told the police the skin and the bones were to be traded in the North Sumatra area.

'€œThe suspects also admitted that it was not their first time. They have traded tiger skins and bones frequently,'€ Basrul said.

Salman, according to Basrul, also told the police that forest rangers at his office had several times sold Sumatran tiger skins and bones from Gayo Lues to Kutacane, Southeast Aceh, to be further traded in a number of provinces in Sumatra and Java Island.

Basrul also said Gayo Lues and South Aceh were places where poaching of Sumatran tigers frequently occurred within TNGL areas. Another place notorious for Sumatran tiger poaching was Langkat in North Sumatra.

He did not deny that there might be involvement of security officers in the illegal trade due to their expensive prices. He said the price of a Sumatran tiger skin could reach up to Rp 50 million (US$3,571).

'€œThat accounts for why many, including officers as individuals in the field, are competing to catch them,'€ Basrul said.

Separately, Southeast Aceh Police chief Comr. Andi Kirana said the discovery of the illegal trade of Sumatran tiger skins and bones involving forest rangers started with reports from local people regarding the syndicate'€™s activities in the region.

A team was later established to follow up the reports. The latest information that the team received was that the suspects were in Lawe Mamas hotel.

'€œThey tried to fight back when we arrested them but we succesfully apprehended them,'€ Kirana said.

He also said that both suspects had traded Sumatran tigers several times in the past.

'€œBoth are currently detained at the police headquarters to undergo examination for further investigation into the case,'€ he said.

Earlier in August, the police also arrested three hunters and a trader in Jambe Rambung village, Bandar Pusaka district, Aceh Tamiang regency, Aceh, confiscating the skin and bones of a young Sumatran tiger.

The suspects admitted to have hunted the 1.5-meter long tiger in a forest in Listen village, Pendeng district, Gayo Lues area.

Besides poaching, the TNGL is also facing illegal logging. Based on forestry ministry data from 1997, the TNGL spanned 1,095,592 hectares, but in 2014, the area had declined to only 800,000 hectares due to the logging.