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fficials at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport have confiscated 687 endangered baby pig-nosed turtles reportedly intended to be smuggled to Hong Kong.

Jakarta Fish Quarantine, Quality Control and Fishery Products Safety Agency (BKIPM) head Teguh Samudro said on Monday that the turtles were found in packages registered as hold baggage on a Sriwijaya Air flight from Papua via Makassar, South Sulawesi, to Jakarta, on March 15.

“The packages were broken when they arrived at the airport, so we could tell what was inside,” Teguh said, declining to specify why the BPKIM waited two weeks to reveal the case.

Teguh said the owner of the packages remained unknown, despite that all luggage checked as hold baggage is registered in airline systems, along with the owner’s identity.

The shipment lacked proper documents, making it difficult to determine the sender, receiver and final destination of the turtles, Teguh said, declining to speculate on how a package could be placed into the hold of an aircraft without appropriate paperwork.

The pig-nosed turtle is near to extinction, partly due to smuggling and the exotic pet trade. The species is found only in southern Papua, southern Papua New Guinea and northern Australia.

According to reports, 15-centimeter-long specimens can fetch prices ranging from US$15 to $20, while juveniles and adults can be sold for as much as $550 to $2,000.

The turtle smugglers face stiff penalties, Teguh said: Violators of the 1992 law on animal, fish and plant quarantines or the 1990 law on biodiversity and ecosystem conservation face up to three years’ imprisonment and fines of up to Rp 150 million ($15,400).

Meanwhile, the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry’s director for conservation of areas and fish species, Tony Ruchimat, said that the turtles would be handed over to the Jakarta Natural Resources Center for treatment prior to their repatriation and release in their original habitat in Papua.

Chairul Saleh of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF)-Indonesia said that the illegal trade in wild animals in Indonesia was the second-biggest factor contributing to the loss of rare species in the country.