Banyumas Police Reveals Muara Crocodile Sales Case

PURWOKERTO - The Criminal Investigation Unit (Satreskrim) of the Banyumas City Police (Polresta), Central Java, has uncovered a case of trafficking a number of protected animals, which are traded through social media.

"The disclosure of this case began when we carried out cyber patrols on September 23, 2023," said Head of the Banyumas Police Satreskrim Kompol Agus Supriadi Siswanto, quoted by ANTARA, Wednesday, September 27.

In the cyber patrol, he said, his party found a Facebook social media account with the name "YanuaraArt" which included trading protected animals under law, one of which was in the form of an estuarine crocodile (poscouscrocodylus).

Therefore, the police conducted an investigation and succeeded in arresting the perpetrator with the initials YR (25) in the Sumbang District, Banyumas, on Monday (25/9).

"The perpetrator admitted that he had the 'YanuaraArt' account and sold two crocodiles, one of which was a small estuarine crocodile at a price of Rp. 400 thousand and the other was a calf of a Schelegeliioma crocodile or a senyulong crocodile which was sold at a price of Rp. 1.7 million," he explained.

According to him, the perpetrators obtained the crocodiles from someone and his party are currently still investigating the person.

From the results of the development to the perpetrator's house in Purbalingga Regency, his party found one Irian crocodile (crocodilylus novaegueineae), one white brontok eagle (nisaetus cirrhatus), and a jalan-alap jambul bird (accipiter trivirgatus).

Based on the results of the examination, he said, the perpetrator admitted that he had traded the protected animals since 2022 or approximately for one year.

"Regarding this act, the perpetrator was charged with Article 40 Paragraph (2) Jo. Article 21 Paragraph (2) of Law Number 5 of 1990 concerning Conservation of Biological Resources and Their Ecosystems carries a penalty of 5 years in prison," said Kasatreskrim.

Meanwhile, the Head of the Cilacap Regional Conservation Resort for the Natural Resources Conservation Center (BKSDA) of Central Java Province Wahyono Restanto expressed his appreciation for the success of the Banyumas Police in disclosing cases of trade in protected animals.

According to him, his party on Tuesday (26/9) identified the types of animals that had become evidence at the Banyumas Police.

Based on the identification results, all these animals are protected species in accordance with Government Regulation Number 7 of 1999 concerning Plant and Wildlife Welfare and are included in the list of protected plants and animals in accordance with the Regulation of the Minister of Environment and Forestry Number P.106 of 2018.

"As stated by Mr. Kasatreskrim, it is a violation of Law Number 5 of 1990 concerning Conservation of Biological Natural Resources and Their Ecosystems, Article 21 and Article 41," he said.

Regarding the handling of protected animals, he said specifically for crocodiles, his party placed them in crocodile breeding places that have become BKSDA partners in Kedungbanteng, Banyumas, in the context of maintenance and rescue.

Meanwhile, for bird species, he said, quarantine and observations will be carried out within the Cilacap Region Conservation Resort Office before being released into the wild.

"Maybe for two weeks. If the condition is healthy and ready to be released, we will release it in an open area of the forest area, it can be in Nusakambangan because it is the habitat of these animals," he explained.