Three arrested for poaching in Lampung

Three arrested for poaching in Lampung

Oyos Saroso HN, The Jakarta Post, Bandarlampung, Lampung

A joint police and military team have arrested three people,
including an officer with the Indonesian Military (TNI), for
poaching in the Talang Bamban forest, West Lampung, an official
said here on Thursday.

The three were First. Sgt. Joko Pramono, an officer with the
Padang Uji District Military Command in the neighboring province
of Bengkulu, and his two civilian accomplices Al Ashar, 38 and
Masfirin, 39.

Joko is now being detained at the Liwa District Military
Command in Lampung, while Ashar and Masfirin are occupying
separate cells in the West Lampung Police Station.

Adj. Sr. Comr. Rachmat Fudail, the chief of West Lampung
Police, said on Thursday that the arrest was made following
information from locals who had found the remains of five
elephants in the forest last week.

They suspected that the elephants were killed by three hunters
who were seen roaming Talang Bamban forest last week.

Dozens of personnel from the West Lampung Police and local
forestry and conservation offices were immediately deployed to
hunt down the hunters.

They were finally able to apprehend the hunters in the forest
on Sunday, said Rachmat.

The joint team seized one mouser rifle, a tiger tooth, a foot
of a scaly anteater and 30 mouser bullets. However, they told
police investigators that they were not responsible for the death
of the five elephants.

Rachmat said that the police and the military were preparing
the dossiers, and the case would immediately be brought to court.

Separately, Mukri Priyatna, the head of the Indonesian Forum
for the Environment's (Walhi) Lampung office, expressed concern
over illegal hunting in the Lampung and Bengkulu areas,
especially in the South Bukit Barisan National Park (TNBBS) in
West Lampung and Way Kambas National Park in East Lampung.

He said hunting had reached an alarming level there. Dozens of
deer in the area had been killed and the meat was freely sold
along the Sumatra central highway, he said.

Additional data from TNBBS showed that some 200 elephants had
been killed since 1993.

Mukri revealed that the police and TNI personnel were often
involved in poaching, and they normally recruited local guides.

In January last year, Way Kambas National Park representatives
and the East Lampung Police apprehended three TNI officers and
six low-ranking police officers, who were hunting in the
territory of the national park.

They were prosecuted in the Palembang Military Court in South
Sumatra, said Mukri.