Gakkum KLHK Calls The Case Of Sales Of Tiger Skin Involved By The Former Regent Of Bener Meriah Aceh Complete

Evidence of selling tiger skin and body parts at the Aceh Police Headquarters, in Banda Aceh, Friday (3/6/2022). ANTARA/HO

ACEH - The Law Enforcement Center of the Ministry of Environment and Forestry (Gakkum KLHK) of the Sumatra Region stated that the case file for the sale of tiger skins involving former Bener Meriah Aceh Regent was declared complete. "The Aceh High Prosecutor's Office stated that the case file for the sale of tiger skin and body parts was declared complete," said Head of the Balai Gakkum KLHK Sumatra Region Subhan when contacted from Banda Aceh, quoted from Antara, Tuesday, November 15. The case of selling the tiger skin with the suspect with the initials A (41), former Regent Bener Meriah, and S (44). Both were arrested by a joint team from the Balai Gakkum KLHK for the Sumatra Region and the Aceh Police at a gas station in Bener Meriah Regency on May 23, 2022. Apart from A and S, the case also involved a person named Iskandar. The person concerned has been sentenced by the Panel of Judges at the Simpang Tiga Redelong Court, Bener Meriah Regency, with a sentence of one year and six months in prison and a fine of Rp. 100 million with a subsidiary of one month in prison. "This case file is the result of the submission from the Balai Gakkum KLHK Sumatra Region. Furthermore, for the second stage of the case, it is still communicated with the public prosecutor," said Subhan. Subhan said suspects A and S were threatened with violating Article 21 Paragraph (2) letter d in conjunction with Article 40 Paragraph (2) of Law Number 5 Year 1990 concerning Conservation of Biological Natural Resources and Their Ecosystems. "The threat is a maximum imprisonment of five years and a maximum fine of Rp. 100 million," Subhan said. Subhan stated that the KLHK RI Balai Gakkum for the Sumatra Region had arrested seven traders of protected animal parts in Aceh Province for the last two years. Of the seven perpetrators, said Subhan, five of them were found guilty by the court. Meanwhile, the other two are still in the legal process at the level of investigation and prosecution. "The action against these perpetrators is a form of our commitment in eradicating crimes against wild plants and animals that are protected by law," said Subhan.