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Navy foils attempt to smuggle pangolins to Malaysia

Navy personnel in Dumai, Riau, have foiled an attempt to smuggle 101 pangolins (Manis javanica) to neighboring Malaysia.

Rizal Harahap (The Jakarta Post)
Pekanbaru
Wed, October 25, 2017

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  Navy foils attempt to smuggle pangolins to Malaysia A Malaysian customs official poses with seized pangolin scales following a press conference at the Customs Complex in Sepang on May 8. Malaysian customs officers have seized more than 700 kilograms of pangolin scales worth US$2.12 million, the country's largest haul of these scales, considered by some to have medicinal properties, officials said May 8. (AFP/Manan Vatsyayana)

Navy personnel in Dumai, Riau, have foiled an attempt to smuggle 101 pangolins (or manis javanicas) to neighboring Malaysia.

Dumai Navy Commander Col. Yose Aldino said that the protected animals were found on a wooden boat on Bukit Batu waters in Bengkalis regency on Tuesday.

“We received information from the public that there was a boat departing from Sei Pakning engaging in illegal wildlife trade,” he said, adding that his office deployed two boats to foil the smuggling attempt.

Two crew members — identified as AW, 25, and BE, 22, from Bengkalis — were arrested, and dozens of pangolins covered in fishing net were seized as evidence. “If they managed to smuggle the pangolins to Malaysia, they would get Rp 800,000 (US$56) each,” Yose said.  

The suspects are not fishermen, he said. “They said they were just minions. They had smuggled pangolins to Malaysia twice before. We are now searching for the mastermind behind the smuggling and where they got the protected animals from.” (ahw)

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