Elephant tusks in Riau sold for up to hundreds of millions of rupiah, ending up as cigarette pipes

Riau Regional Police disclosed a wildlife-poaching syndicate that sold elephant tusks killed in Ukui District, Pelalawan Regency. The syndicate then sold them to its network to be made into cigarette pipes. ‘These cigarette tusks move through several hands, sold up to Rp 130 million,’ said Dirkrimsus of the Riau Police, Senior Commissioner Ade Kuncoro, on Wednesday (4 March 2026). The commissioner explained that the hunters, led by suspect FA (62), retrieved an elephant tusk weighing 7.6 kilograms from PT RAPP’s Ukui concession area on 25 January 2026. ‘The executor, identified by initials AN (DPO), shot the elephant twice in the head. After that, he and suspect RA cut part of the elephant’s head with an axe and knife to extract the tusks,’ he said. Suspects AN and RA cut the tusk from around midday until 8 p.m. Local authorities transferred the 7.6-kilogram tusk to suspect FA in Pangkalan Lesung in exchange for Rp 30 million. The network operates with precise division of labour, using a shifting delivery route to throw off investigators. Suspect FA cut the tusk into four pieces and sent them to suspect HY in Padang, West Sumatra, via a travel service. ‘Suspect FA sold to HY for Rp 76 million,’ he said. From Padang, HY sent the tusk package to Jakarta by air cargo, with a witness initial TI passing it to AC in Surabaya by rail cargo. In Surabaya, the tusk was documented before being resold to ME in Jakarta for Rp 117,645,000 in early February 2026. ‘Then, on 6 February 2026, ME took the tusk to Kudus to sell to SA for Rp 125,235,000. From SA, the tusk moved to JS in Sukoharjo, and then to HA,’ he explained. The tusk finally reached RB (DPO) in Solo to be processed into a high-value product. Investigations indicate it was converted into 10 cigarette pipes. ‘On 19 February 2026, HA collected the finished products and sold 10 tusk cigarette pipes to JS for Rp 10,700,000 on Jalan Veteran, Solo,’ he said. The intermediaries reportedly earned varying profits, with retailers of the cigarette pipes potentially pocketing between Rp 200,000 and Rp 500,000 per pipe.