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Authorities foil attempt to smuggle 700 birds in Banten
The seized birds will be released at the Rawa Danau natural reserve in Serang regency in the province.
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Cars wait to board a ferry at Merak Port in Cilegon, Banten, on Jan. 2, 2025. (Antara/Angga Budhiyanto)
T
he Banten Quarantine Agency intercepted 700 birds smuggled from Sumatra to Jakarta at Merak ferry port in Cilegon, Banten, on Thursday.
“We thwarted the smuggling attempt because the shipment lacked required quarantine documents and was not reported to the quarantine officials,” agency head Duma Sari said on Friday, as quoted by Antara.
During the operation, the quarantine agency personnel seized 400 yellow-vented bulbuls, 100 Javan mynas, 100 sunbirds and 100 acrochephalus warblers. The birds were packed into 22 white plastic boxes.
The officials inspected the birds to ensure their health conditions before being handed to a unit of the West Java Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA). The conservation agency, in collaboration with Merak Port Police and Banten Quarantine Agency would release the birds at the Rawa Danau ecosystem in Serang regency.
“By releasing these birds, we hope they’ll survive and reproduce, preventing their extinction,” Duma said, adding that the release of the birds would also serve as public education to comply with the regulations on conservation to ensure biodiversity preservation.
A similar incident occurred at Bakauheni Port in Lampung, located across the Sunda Strait from Merak on the same day, where the Bandar Lampung Quarantine Agency foiled an attempted smuggling of 55 birds.
Authorities found the birds, comprising 40 hanging parrots and 15 white-eyes in the rear area of an intercity bus where the driver usually rested, as reported by tribunnews.com.
On Jan. 26, the quarantine agency foiled another smuggling attempt at Bakauheni, where smugglers attempted to smuggle nearly 2,000 birds from Bandar Lampung to Bekasi.
