Selling Thousands Of Lobsters Illegally, Two People In Malang, East Java Arrested By Police

MALANG - Malang Resort Police (Polres) arrested two people suspected of selling illegal lobster seeds, namely DD (37) and AK (46), residents of Tambakrejo Village, Sumbermanjing Wetan District, Malang Regency, East Java Province.

The head of the Criminal Investigation Unit (Kasat Reskrim) of the Malang Police AKP Donny Bara'langi in Malang Regency, East Java, Tuesday, February 15 said the suspect AK was a collector and a recidivist in the same case. Suspect AK has also undergone legal proceedings in 2017.

"AK is a collector and is a recidivist for the same case," said Donny as quoted by Antara.

He explained that AK obtained the lobster seeds by buying them from the fishermen. For one type of sand lobster, the suspect bought it at a price of Rp. 14 thousand; and a pearl type lobster bought for Rp. 16 thousand.

After the lobster seeds were collected, continued Donny, the perpetrator then wrapped the seeds using a plastic bag and filled it with water plus oxygen. The packaging of the lobster seeds was carried out in the warehouse belonging to the suspect AK.

"Then the suspect took the seeds to the place of transaction. While the perpetrators were waiting for buyers, we arrested them," he explained.

The perpetrator is suspected of being involved in a network of illegal lobster seed sales that was revealed by the Malang Police in August 2021. However, the police are still developing the case.

"The buyers are still under investigation, because they were secured when they were about to make a sale transaction," he said. Meanwhile, the suspect AK admitted to selling the lobster seeds illegally because he was getting a very promising profit. In one delivery, for 2,500 lobster seeds, he can pocket a profit of up to IDR 5 million.

"For each lobster, the profit is Rp. 2,000, so the total is Rp. 5 million. In one month, it has been sold twice," he said.

In addition, according to the suspect, the reason for selling lobster seeds illegally is because fish catches have decreased drastically due to bad weather. The suspect AK also admitted that he had been sentenced to a similar case for 1 year and 8 months in prison.

As a result of his actions, the suspect was charged with Article 92 Juncto Article 26 paragraph 1 of Law Number 11 of 2020 concerning fisheries, and Juncto Article 55 of the Criminal Code, with the threat of imprisonment for eight years.