By SIMON KHOO
KUANTAN: A gang using a car workshop as a transit centre to smuggle exotic animals was crippled with the arrest of three suspects and the seizure of items worth about RM500,000.
Among the items seized were 2,330 clouded monitor lizards, 319 carcasses of skinned owls and 47 limbs of the endangered sun bear.
State Wildlife and National Parks Department director Khairiah Mohd Shariff said that, acting on a tip-off, her officers raided the workshop in Jalan Bukit Ubi at 9.30pm Sunday recently.
She said the limbs of the bears were found in two refrigerators at the back of the workshop while the skinned owls were kept in polystyrene boxes and the monitor lizards locked in 233 cages.
“The suspects aged between 30 and 54 years, including the premise owner, were caught red-handed while unloading the items.
“We believe the animals had just arrived at the transit centre and awaiting export to other countries for consumption and preparation of traditional food,” she said at a press conference.
Khairiah said the success was the first for the department this year.
She said that investigations showed the suspects had been operating under the guise of the workshop for several months.
“We are investigating whether the suspects are linked to an international syndicate. They face charges under the Wildlife Protection Act 1972 for having possession of endangered animals,” she said, adding that the offence carried a jail term of up to five years, a fine of up to RM5,000, or both, if convicted.
Khairiah said the items would be sent to the department’s conservation centre in Jenderak, Jerantut, for tests and the lizards would later be released in the wild.
This article was taken from: The Star Online: Metro: South & East 22nd January 2009
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