Officials foil attempt to smuggle snakes
JAKARTA (JP): Security officials at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport have foiled an attempt to smuggle eight snakes, including one of the world's deadliest species worth millions of rupiah, to Moscow.
The head of the airport's animal quarantine center Lukas A. Tonga said on Wednesday that the suspected smuggler, a Russian named Vladimir, was about to board Aeroflot Flight 566 last Thursday evening when the airport security noticed moving items in his bag through the X-ray monitoring screen.
After a brief check, quarantine officials found the Russian's specially designed bag was filled with snakes, including three hazardous Papuan Taipans (Oxyranus ocellata), which were unique to Irian Jaya, Lukas said.
"This species of lethal snake could end the life of a human being in seconds," one of the quarantine's veterinarian, Wawan Sutian, told The Jakarta Post last night.
Besides the snakes, the officials also found 10 blue-tailed lizards and several insects, including eight grasshoppers, inside Vladimir's bag, Lukas said.
The Russian failed to show any appropriate documents to carry the reptiles.
Similar to last month's finding, the airport's officials said they failed to arrest the suspect as the Russian was already boarding, Lukas added.
On Sept. 29, airport officials also foiled a similar attempt to take out of the country a collection of 67 reptiles, including pythons, monitors and turtles, which were about to be smuggled to Singapore.
The alleged owner of the bag, Leong Kok Tieng, managed to fly without being able to be touched by the airport authorities.
According to Wawan, he had no idea why Vladimir was trying to take the other animals, the lizards and grasshoppers, to his country.
"But all of the snakes are very expensive. The dreadful taipans, for example, cost US$300 here in Indonesia," he said.
Taipans have killed a great number of people in Irian Jaya, he explained.
Wawan speculated that Vladimir was going to sell the snakes' poison as it could be converted into valuable antivenom.
"The price of the antivenom ranges between $250 and $1,000 per ampule, depending upon the level of the poison," he said.
None of the animals in Vladimir's bag were protected species, he added.
"But we're worried that their number in our country might dwindle if we fail to do something to help this kind of smuggling, which has shown a significant increase in the past few months," Wawan said.
The illegal export and trade of such animals is forbidden under Law No. 5/1990 on natural resources and ecosystem conservation and Law No. 16/1992 on fish, animal and plant quarantine.
Violators face a maximum sentence of three years in prison and a Rp 150 million (US$17,000) fine. (bsr)