Authorities Arrested Online Wildlife Dealer in Malang, East Java

East Java Nature Conservation Agency (BKSDA) arrested a wildlife dealer in Malang, East Java, on Friday (8/3/2019). The arrest was made together with the Ministry of Environment and Forestry's Office of Law Enforcement, Malang Police Department, and PROFAUNA.

From the dealer, M, a resident of Lesanpuro, Kedungkandang district, officers confiscated 1 Salmon-crested Cockatoo (Cacatua moluccensis) and 1 Black-capped Lory (Lorius lory). M was caught in the act during a transaction at Jalan Raya Madyopuro, Malang.

M had been a target of BKSDA and PROFAUNA, as he frequently offered protected wildlife species for sale on Facebook. On his account 'Kin Van' there are numerous animals being sold including pangolins, parrots, and many more.

"He was quite slick, we failed to catch him on our first attempt. This second time our team was solid and finally we can make an arrest," said Mamat Ruhimat, Head BKSDA Area VI Probolinggo.

Further interrogation revealed that M recently sold 2 pangolins to KEM, a resident of Batu. The man has also been arrested along with the pangolins as evidence.

"Online wildlife trade is a very big problem in Indonesia, despite all the measures taken to curb it. We highly appreciate people's participation in this matter, like by reporting illegal wildlife trade and not buying protected wildlife species. Those are only a few ways beside many others that we can do to break the wildlife trade chain," added Siti Nur Hasannah, PROFAUNA's Campaign Officer.

The authorities are still examining the case, to go deeper into the supplier's level considering many of the offered animals come from outside of Java.

"PROFAUNA supports the authorities to investigate this case in depth because right now, for instance, we have parrots confiscated from the dealer. This means that there are people involved on the other end of this supply chain, somewhere over in Maluku, who send those birds to Java," claimed Siti.