Smuggling 190 Reptiles From South Papua To Jakarta Successfully Foiled

Photo: Doc. Antara

JAKARTA - The Mopah Airport Service Unit, Merauke, South Papua thwarted the smuggling of 190 reptiles bound for Jakarta.

Head of South Papua Quarantine Cahyono in his written statement, Saturday, April 20, explained that the 190 reptiles failed to be smuggled in two consecutive days.

From the report received initially Friday, April 19, officers managed to thwart the smuggling of 157 reptiles consisting of 145 umbrella soa lizards and 12 brown monitor lizards.

157 Reptiles failed to be smuggled into Jakarta after Avsec officer Muhammad Ridwan, who served in Cargo, Mopah Airport when operating an x-ray machine, became suspicious of a package headed for Jakarta which was written "herbal" but after opening it contained hundreds of reptiles.

Then Saturday, April 20, officers from Lion Air came to the Mopah Airport quarantine officer because they were suspicious of the contents of the package which after it was opened, it turned out that it contained 33 soa umbrella lizards which were packaged with the words " makeup boxes" written.

"There are various ways that smugglers use to smuggle animals by packing them into packages by being given information such as herbs or others," explained Cahyono, quoted from Antara.

South Papua Quarantine Head Cahyono explained that the brown lizard and umbrella soa lizard are endemic Merauke animals whose status is protected.

"It is very unfortunate that wildlife smuggling is still happening, so it invites the public to maintain the endemic flora and fauna of Merauke so that it remains in nature," hoped Cahyono.

Admittedly, his party hopes that synergy will continue to be maintained so that smuggling efforts can be thwarted.

"Officers at the airport must be more careful and thorough so that if they are suspicious of the package to be sent, the officer can open it to confirm its contents," hoped Cahyono.