Police Thwart Smuggling of Thousands of Marine Life to Singapore

TheIndonesia.id - Water and Air Police of Batam, Rempang, and Galang (Barelang) City Police, Riau Islands, Indonesia arrested a smuggler of thousands of protected marine life to Singapore from Batam, Riau Islands. There are thousands of marine life found when smugglers are stopped in the middle of the sea.

"The perpetrator who was arrested had the initials D (44 years old). He was a fisherman. D was arrested in the waters of Pemping Island, Belakang Padang, when he was about to cross into a neighboring country (Singapore)," said Head of the Water and Air Police Unit at the Barelang Police Commissioner Dwi Ramadhanto in Batam, Friday, August 26, 2022.

Dhanto said the types of marine biota to be smuggled were 117 sea stars, 11 coral crabs, 4 sea rabbits, 600 cow eye snails, 50 barking snails, 9 tiger snails, 51 sea urchins, 70 cinchona cactus, 264 soft coral, 209 hard coral, 815 nemo fish, and many more. "With a total of 2,258 fisheries resources and a total of 473 species of sponges/ coral, that will be smuggled into Singapore," he said.

Dhanto explained that the raid began with information that said that there were frequent shipments of sponges and fish resources to Singapore illegally in the waters of Belakang Padang. After that, the team conducted an investigation by patrols using speed boats around the waters of Behind Padang at night. Then the team saw a speed boat passing by with suspicious cargo. Police then carried out an inspection.

“During the inspection, it was found that the ship contained various types of sponges and fish resources which were planned to be sent to Singapore. After that, the speed boat and the perpetrators were taken to the Air and Water Police Unit of Barelang Police for further investigations," he said.

Dhanto explained, that according to information from the perpetrators of smuggling protected marine life, he has done this activity a couple of times and there is already a relationship between the perpetrators and a dealer in Singapore.

For his actions, the perpetrators were snared under Article 40 paragraph (2) of Law no 5 of 1990 concerning Conservation of Biological Natural Resources and Their Ecosystems with a penalty of 5 years imprisonment and a fine of Rp100,000,000 and Article 87 of Law no. 21/2019 concerning Fish, Animal and Plant Quarantine with a Penalty of 3 Years imprisonment and a fine of Rp. 3 billion.