Official asks about alleged bird smuggler

Official asks about alleged bird smuggler

TANGERANG (JP): Tangerang Prosecutor's Office has questioned
the whereabouts of a Pakistani flight attendant who was arrested
at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in August for attempting
to smuggle two black cockatoos to Karachi.

Head of the General Crime section, Pudji Basuki, also raised
the question of the whereabouts of the two Probosciger aterrimus,
locally called alkai raja or kakatua hitam, each worth about
US$2,000 on the black market overseas.

"We have not yet received the dossiers on his case from the
police," Pudji told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

He strongly suggested the police give immediate clarification
of the matter as the attempted smuggling of the protected species
involved a citizen of another country.

"We want the police to solve the case soon," he said.

Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) flight attendant Khalid
Azeem, 39, was on his way to board a PIA flight to Karachi on
Aug. 4 when the airport security officers noticed something
irregular in the X-ray of his black bag.

When examining the bag, the airport officers found the two
rare birds wrapped in a dark T-shirt.

After hours of questioning, Azeem was transferred to Tangerang
Police station for further investigation while the birds were
temporarily kept -- as is the norm -- in the airport quarantine.

Normally, any confiscated animals would be sent to a state zoo
or the Taman Safari park in Cisarua where they would be kept and
fed prior to the trial of the case.

Airport quarantine head Lukas A. Tonga told the Post last
month that the two birds were seized as evidence by head of the
Jakarta Police Detectives for specific crimes, Lt. Col. Winarno,
on Aug. 7, some three days after the arrest.

"The rare cockatoos were taken by Chief Sgt. Amir Machmud on
that day after he produced a letter from his superior, Winarno,"
Lukas said.

When asked to comment on the case, city police spokesman Lt.
Col. Edward Aritonang promised to check the case out thoroughly.

The export of and trade in the species is forbidden under Law
No.5/1990 for Natural Resources and Ecosystem Conservation. The
species is also regulated under Law No.16/1992 for fish, animal
and plant quarantine. Violators face a maximum sentence of three
years in prison and a Rp 150 million fine. (41/bsr)