Riau Islands Police Thwarts Smuggling Of Thousands Of Turtle Eggs To Singapore

The Riau Islands Police released a case of smuggling 2,020 green turtle eggs from Bintan via Batam to Singapore, Thursday (21/8/2025). (ANTARA/Laily Rahmawaty)

The Riau Islands Police's Special Criminal Investigation Directorate (Ditreskrimsus) thwarted an attempt to smuggle 2,020 turtle eggs from Bintan to Singapore.

The Director of Special Criminal Investigation (Dirreskrimsus) of the Riau Islands Police, Kombes Silvester Simamora, said that this disclosure originated from public information.

"We received information from the public about the delivery of green turtle eggs from Tembelan to Batam on August 12, 2025," said Silvester as quoted by ANTARA, Thursday, August 21.

He said the green turtle egg (Chelno mydas) would later be smuggled into Singapore.

"This green turtle egg comes from Tembelan Island, Bintan Regency was taken to Batam City first before being sent abroad," he said.

The one egg of the green turtle is sold for IDR 30 thousand.

The smuggling perpetrators are still being investigated by the police because when they were found, turtle eggs were stored in suitcases in a hotel lobby in the Nagoya area, Batam City.

After being secured, the turtle eggs have been frozen and transferred to the Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA) to be stored in a safe place.

The illegal hunting of turtle eggs has threatened the population of live turtles in Indonesia.

Turtle eggs are often consumed believed to have benefits, even though they can cause various health problems because the content of turtle eggs contains bacteria, parasites and heavy metals, such as mercury which is harmful to health, and also violates the law.

The act of smuggling turtle eggs violates Article 40 paragraph (2) in conjunction with Article 21 paragraph (2) letter e, Law Number 32 of 2024 concerning amendments to Law Number 5 of 1990 concerning Conservation of Biological Natural Resources and Their Ecosystems.