Lampung Quarantine Thwarts Smuggling of 620 Wild Animals

Bandarlampung - Lampung’s Animal, Fish, and Plant Quarantine Agency (Karantina Lampung), together with a joint team, has once again successfully uncovered a smuggling attempt involving 620 wild animals consisting of undocumented birds at Bakauheni Port in South Lampung. “Hundreds of those birds were found in distressing conditions because they were tightly hidden in the toilet area and the rear part of the bus cabin to avoid inspection by officials,” said the Head of Karantina Lampung, Donni Muksydayan, in his statement in Bandarlampung on Friday. He said the case was uncovered on the evening around 8:35 PM WIB after officers received information about a vehicle suspected of transporting wild animals heading to Bakauheni Port. Around 9:00 PM WIB, the suspicious bus was located at the port entrance while in the queue for the ferry crossing. “During the inspection, officers found 25 baskets and 25 boxes containing live birds hidden in the cramped luggage and cabin areas of the bus,” he said. He stated that from the inventory results, a total of 620 birds were found, consisting of various types, including 220 Buffalo Starlings, 170 Tailorbirds, 54 Brown-breasted Jungle Babblers, 44 Orange-headed Thrush, 36 Mandarin Ducks, 25 Bride’s Sunbirds, 25 Sunbirds, 20 White-eyes, 9 White-rumped Shamas, 8 Woodpeckers, 4 Yellow-vented Bulbuls, 2 Common Ioras, 2 Brahminy Kites, and 1 Sooty-headed Bulbul. “Two of them are protected animals, namely the Brahminy Kites, which are listed as protected species under the Minister of Environment and Forestry Regulation,” he said. He added that based on the driver’s confession, the hundreds of birds were loaded from an agency in Palembang around 3:00 PM WIB and were intended to be sent to the Jatiwarna area in East Bekasi to a person with the initials Z. “The driver admitted to receiving a fee of Rp2 million to transport all the birds to Java,” he said.