Police Arrest Javan Rhino Hunters In Ujung Kulon National Park

UNSPLASH ILLUSTRATION

JAKARTA - The K9 Ditpolsatwa Korsabhara Baharkam Polri team together with the Banten Police Mobile Brigade and the Forest Police of the Ministry of Environment and Forestry arrested one perpetrator of hunting for Javan rhinos in Ujung Kulon National Park, Banten.

"The perpetrator with the initials AD 29 years old is a resident of Pandeglang Regency," said Head of the K9 Team of the Ditpolsatwa Korsabhara Baharkam Polri Police Inspector Dua Sutarno as reported by ANTARA, Wednesday, May 15.

Sutarno explained that the chronology of the arrest of the perpetrator began on Tuesday, May 14, 2024, when the National Police and Forest Police teams conducted a search in the protected forest of Ujung Kulon National Park and found seven loco-type weapons found in the intersection where the perpetrator was hiding.

Furthermore, on Wednesday, the K9 Team, Brimob Polda Banten and Polhut under the leadership of Ipda Sutarno carried out a search or tracked the used rejection points left by the perpetrators using a K9 Polri sniffer dog.

"From the results of the tracking by the K9 Polri, we managed to find the hiding place of this perpetrator, then we made an arrest and the perpetrator was brought down from the forest for development," he said.

Efforts to find the perpetrators of the hunt for endangered endangered endangered animals lasted for two days on May 14 and 15, 2024.

The area that is quite wide forces the National Police and Polhut during the search must spend the night in the protected forest of Ujung Kulon National Park.

This effort was made so that the K9 Team would not lose track of the sniffer dog.

"For the past two days, we have been searching for the perpetrators of the Javan rhino hunt in Ujung Kulon National Park with a detection tool in the form of K9 dogs and thank God, today we managed to secure one of the perpetrators along with evidence of seven loco rifles," he said.

The arrest of the Javan rhino hunter in Ujung Kulon National Park (TNUK) was also carried out on April 26, 2024. Two perpetrators were arrested, namely YP (41) a resident of Matraman, East Jakarta, and WY (71) a resident of Kenjeran, Surabaya City, East Java.

The arrests of the two perpetrators were the result of the development of the investigation of perpetrator N (31), a resident of Rancapinang Village, Cimanggu District, Pandeglang Regency, who was arrested on November 26, 2023.

The Javan rhino is an endemic Indonesian animal that is on the endangered list. The Javan rhino population (Rhinoceros sondaicus) experienced an increase from 63 individuals in 2015 to 72 in 2019.