Jakarta – The Bakauheni Port Police (KSKP) together with the Lampung Agriculture Quarantine Body have confiscated more than 29,000 birds intended to be shipped to Java over the past six months.
A top official at the Agriculture Quarantine Body, Karman, said authorities had managed to thwart at least 43 smuggling attempts at the port from January to June this year.
The latest smuggling attempt was thwarted last Saturday, with 400 distinctive black and white kacer (Oriental magpie-robin) seized from a minivan that had departed from Jambi. The driver failed to show official documents for the shipment, the official explained.
"All of the birds have been handed to the Lampung Natural Resources Conservation Agency [BKSDA] to be released into the wild," Karman said Monday.
Other birds confiscated include cucak ijo (greater green leafbird), kutilang (sooty-headed bulbul), perkutut (zebra dove) and prenjak (bar-winged prinia), with the smugglers attempting to deliver the majority of the birds to Pramuka bird market in East Jakarta.
Last year, the authorities managed to stop the illegal shipping of roughly 39,000 birds in 45 different smuggling attempts, kompas.com reported. (vny)