Six people nabbed over rare bird trafficking

JAKARTA (JP): City Police arrested six people for selling protected bird species during a raid on a bird market on Jl. Barito, South Jakarta, on Saturday.

The six bird dealers are being detained by police for questioning.

During Saturday's operation, conducted in cooperation with the Jakarta Species Conservation Center, the police seized 31 rare birds and a jungle cat valued at over Rp 50 million (US$5,263).

Law No. 5/1990 on Natural Resources and the Ecosystem threatens traffickers of protected species with a maximum one- year jail term and a Rp 50 million fine.

The birds seized included Moluccan cockatoos, king cockatoos, black-headed parrots, four long-tailed parakeets, myna birds and birds of paradise.

Head of the Western Jakarta Region Conservation Center, Yusuf Makasau, who led the operation, said his office had repeatedly warned the vendors not to trade in protected species, but the warnings were disregarded.

"We even observed the vendors displaying the protected species for sale," he told journalists at the city police headquarters.

The birds have been taken to the Ministry of Forestry Transit Quarantine 1 on Jl. Benda Raya No. 1, West Jakarta.

Yusuf said that the conservation center's officers would return the birds to their natural habitat as soon as possible. (01)