Police Foil The Smuggling Of Hundreds Of Thousands Of Lobster Seeds In Banyuasin

The evidence for smuggling was 60 boxes of stereofoam containing hundreds of thousands of lobster seeds wrapped in plastic bags and wrapped in newspapers.

PALEMBANG - Officials from the Directorate of Water and Air of the Regional Police (Polda) of South Sumatra foiled an attempt to smuggle hundreds of thousands of lobster seeds in Bunga Karang Waters, Tanjung Lago District, Banyuasin Regency.

Deputy Director of the Water and Air Directorate of the South Sumatra Police AKBP Zahrul Bawadi said the lobster seed smuggling was foiled during an ambush operation on a motorboat in Bunga Karang waters.

The operation to ambush the motorboat was carried out by Polairud Polda personnel of South Sumatra together with officers from Korpolairud Baharkam Polri on Monday (25/7) night at around 23.30 WIB.

"The ambush is the result of the development of an information complaint that we received on July 6, 2022, last Monday night, officers found the suspicious motorboat in Bunga Karang waters," he said as quoted by ANTARA, Tuesday, July 26.

According to him, from the motorboat, officers found 60 boxes of stereofoam which, upon inspection, turned out to be storing lobster seeds wrapped in a plastic bag wrapped in a newspaper inscribed with Korean characters.

From the results of the officer's calculations, there were a total of 273,870 lobster seeds stored in the box, consisting of 265,400 sand lobsters and 8,470 pearl lobsters.

"Luckily, we were able to thwart this effort because the total loss is estimated at IDR 27.810 billion, if the lobster smuggling was successfully carried out by the perpetrators," he said.

However, the officers did not manage to catch the perpetrators because when they were found the motorboat was in a state that no one controlled it, but just left it in the waters of the river.

"While the perpetrators are still under investigation by studying the evidence we have obtained. We immediately sent the lobster seeds to South Lampung to be released there by the Fish Quarantine Center, which is expected to arrive later tonight," he added.

The officers confiscated 1 unit of an anonymous motorboat, 1 Alkon machine, a black BCA ATM card, a BCA Serang savings book in the name of Roni K.

For this action, the perpetrator is suspected of violating Article 88 Juncto Article 16 paragraph (1) or Article 92 Juncto Article 26 paragraph (1) of Law Number 31 of 2004 concerning Fisheries, Juncto Article 55 Paragraph (1) of the 1st Criminal Code. The threat of imprisonment is a maximum of 8 years and a fine of IDR 1.5 billion.