Indonesian Navy Personnel Foil The Smuggling Of Tens Of Cucak Ijo Birds At Tanjung Emas Port, Semarang

Efforts to smuggle dozens of protected birds that were contained in cardboard were thwarted by Lanal Semarang personnel, Wednesday. (ANTARA/ICSenjaya)

SEMARANG - Semarang Naval Base personnel secured two crew members from Central Kalimantan in the waters of Tanjung Emas Port, Semarang, Central Java. Both of them are suspected of smuggling dozens of green cucak birds and protected cotton shoots without official documents.

Semarang Naval Base Implementing Officer Lt. Col. Yudhi Hermawan said that the disclosure of the attempt to smuggle dozens of illegal birds stems from information obtained about the existence of ships carrying illegal cargo around the waters of Tanjung Emas Semarang.

Officers then inspected a ship loaded with "crude palm oil" (CPO) in the waters around Tanjung Emas Semarang.

"From the inspection, it was found that around 50 birds that are included in the protected category are in a number of boxes," he said as quoted by ANTARA, Wednesday, August 24.

The two crew members (ABK) with the initials SK and R did not have any documents related to the whereabouts of the dozens of birds.

The findings, he said, were then forwarded to the Semarang Agricultural Quarantine Center for further legal proceedings.

Head of the Semarang Agricultural Quarantine Center, Turhadi, explained that the green cucak bird is classified as a protected animal, while the cotton shoot is a wild animal.

"There must be complete documents for the ownership of this kind of protected animal," he said.

The two perpetrators, he continued, would be charged with Law 5 of 1994 on Biological Diversity.