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Police arrest illegal bird trader for smuggling hundreds of songbirds from Riau to Jambi
The police have arrested a 32-year-old man for allegedly smuggling oriental magpie-robins, greater green leafbirds, lesser green leafbirds, black-naped orioles, bar-winged prinias, Sumatran padda and hummingbirds.
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An oriental magpie-robin sits perched on a fence. Investigators at the West Tanjungjabung Police have arrested a bird trader for allegedly smuggling hundreds of songbirds, including species listed as protected, from Riau to Jambi on Saturday evening. (tribunnews.com/HO)
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nvestigators at the West Tanjungjabung Police have arrested a bird trader for allegedly smuggling hundreds of songbirds, including species listed as protected, from Riau to Jambi on Saturday evening.
The trader was driving a Toyota Avanza minivan with 1,218 birds to cross province borders. He was identified as 32-year-old Norman Widodo, a resident of Sungai Baung II village in West Rengat district, Riau, West Tanjungjabung Police chief Adj. Comr. Guntur Saputro said.
“He was arrested on Jl. Lintas Timur at kilometer 140 in Gemuruh village, Tungkal Ulu district, West Tanjungjabung regency, heading toward Jambi,” he said on Monday.
The suspect and evidence were transported to the West Tanjungjabung Police office.
The car was full of protected birds, including kacer (oriental magpie-robins), greater green leafbirds, lesser green leafbirds, black-naped orioles, bar-winged prinias, Sumatran padda and hummingbirds. The songbirds, also known as perching birds, are known for their melodious sounds and often used in songbird competitions.
“The birds would have been brought to someone who ordered them in Jambi,” Guntur said, adding that the collector who was waiting for the birds lived in Mendalo in Jambi city.
Read also: 10 new bird species and subspecies found on remote Indonesian islands
The police said it was the suspect’s second time delivering the birds and that, on his first trip, he was not caught by law enforcement personnel.
Norman faces charges under the 1990 law on natural resources conservation, which carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a fine of Rp 100 million (US$6,050).
The head of the Jambi Natural Resources Conservation Agency, Rahmad Saleh, said the arrest was made thanks to coordination between the agency and the police. He said the illegal smuggling of protected species was rampant in Sumatra despite repeated arrests by law enforcement officials.
He urged residents not to buy exotic animals to help decrease poaching. Illegal wildlife trade not only violates the law, it is also harmful to the ecosystem.
Ridwan said the agency would release the captive birds into their natural habitats. (vny).
