Jember Police Prevents Sales Of 1,300 Illegal Lobster Seeds

Jember Police Chief Grand Commissioner Adjutant of Police Hery Purnomo shows evidence of lobster seed sales at a press conference/Photo: Antara

JEMBER - The Kalong Team of the Jember Resort Police, East Java, managed to thwart the sale of 1,300 lobster seeds and secure a perpetrator with the initials DF, a resident of Jember Regency, who was detained at the local Police Headquarters.

"The team from the Jember Police Satreskrim Unit managed to uncover the sale of lobster seeds in the Puger area which will be sent to Banyuwangi," said Jember Police Chief Grand Commissioner Adjutant of Police Hery Purnomo in the local district, Wednesday evening, May 11.

According to him, one perpetrator with the initials DF, who is a collector, was arrested and is currently undergoing investigation for further development, while another person with the initials H, who supplied lobster seeds to DF, managed to escape and is currently being chased by officers.

"The perpetrator's modus operandi is to buy the lobster seeds from an individual known to have the initials H, who is currently being hunted by the Jember Police Satreskrim, while DF as a collector will contact the buyer from Banyuwangi to determine where to collect the lobster seeds," he said, quoted by Antara.

He said the perpetrator got lobster seeds from H and after the perpetrator got enough lobster seeds, the perpetrator would contact the buyer to determine the place of the transaction, which was always moving around to trick the officers.

"The illegal sale of lobster seeds is a criminal offense because it is carried out without a permit and the perpetrator also does not have a SIUP, which is regulated in Law Number 45 of 2009 concerning Fisheries," he said.

Illegal sales carried out by these perpetrators can be subject to criminal sanctions as regulated in Article 88 juncto article 16 paragraph 1 or article 92 paragraph 1 juncto article 26 paragraph 1 RI Law number 45 of 2009 concerning Fisheries and juncto article 55 paragraph 1 to 1 of the Criminal Code and Article 92 juncto article 26 of the Republic of Indonesia Law number 19 of 2020 concerning Job Creation, where the threat for perpetrators is a maximum of 8 years in prison.

Meanwhile, DF said that he had been working as a lobster collector for 2 years, where 1 sand lobster seed was sold for IDR 6 thousand per head and pearl lobster seeds were sold for IDR 10 thousand per head.

"For the delivery of lobster seeds, we use plastic that has been given oxygen for wrapping and put it in a backpack. Sometimes buyers come to Jember, but sometimes we meet in the Gunung Gumitir area," he said.