TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Jakarta Metro Police Special Crime investigators arrested 'YI' in an illegal wildlife trade in Bekasi on Wednesday, January 27. The authorities caught the suspect red-handed when YI was trading protected wildlife such as the Sumatran orangutan, Nias parrots, and langurs.

"He camouflaged himself as a normal animal trader. But he actually kept storages of exotic wildlife at the back," said Metro Jaya Police spokesperson Sr. Commissioner Yusri Yunus on Thursday, January 28.

According to Yusri, police investigation on the alleged protected wildlife trade by YI first started after police received a public report on the issue. The authorities went undercover pretending to be a customer and would return 3-5 days after as suspect YI prepared the animal.

As the undercover police’s order came, the investigators raided the suspect’s store and confiscated exotic animals, mainly protected under law, such as a Sumatran Orangutan, three Nias parrots, and three Javan langurs. YI faces up to five years imprisonment for the crime.

The suspect has close connections to a network of illegal wildlife trade selling exotic animals at varying prices from Rp1 million up to Rp10 million. YI claimed to have been supplied with Orangutan from a friend within an animal lover community on social media.

Read: Pushing for Protection of the Nearly Extinct Bornean Langur

M JULNIS FIRMANSYAH