Authorities Thwart yet Another Attempt to Export Lobster Seeds

TheIndonesia.id - The Indonesian National Police (Polri) and Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries (KKP) recently thwarted an attempt to export 34,472 lobster seeds valued at up to Rp 3.9 billion (US$272,000).

According to Antara, the lobster seeds would be sent to Singapore from Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, Banten.

“Thank you to colleagues in Polri who continue to synergize so that we can uncover the lobster seed smuggling bound for Singapore via Soekarno-Hatta airport,” head of Jakarta Fish Quarantine Inspection Agency (which operates under KKP) Heri Yuwono said on Monday, September 12.

Yuwono said authorities found new modus operandi used in the smuggling in which lobster seeds are put into plastic packages which are then vacuumed. These packages are put inside suitcases and into wooden boxes.

According to relevant documents, the items were declared as decorative lights and “lobster fry”.

“Unlike the usual, the lobster seed packaging used plastic package with special pressing machine and not rubber band,” Yuwono explained.

The lobster seeds were seized in the cargo parking area at Soekarno-Hatta after airport police found a car parked in the area with wooden boxes containing lobster seeds.

In total, 33 plastic packages were confiscated, which consisted of 24,608 sand lobsters and 9,864 pearl lobsters.

“The value can reach up to Rp 3.9 billion,” Yuwono said.

The perpetrators of this crime can face up to eight-year imprisonment.

The lobster seeds will then be released at conservation area Loka PSPL Serang beach in Banten.