JAKARTA: Indonesian police seized 14 preserved bodies of
critically-endangered Sumatran tigers in a raid on a house near Jakarta,
a spokesman said Thursday.
A man identified as F.R. was arrested
Tuesday in a suburban area of Depok suspected of his involvement in the
illegal wildlife trade, national police spokesman Boy Rafli Amar told
AFP. "We confiscated whole preserved bodies of 14 tigers, a lion,
three leopards, a clouded leopard, three bears and a tapir and a tiger
head," he said, adding that investigations were ongoing. "We
believe he is connected to a network of rare animal traders. But we have
not established yet if the animals are for the domestic or
international market," he said.
The suspect could face up to five
years' jail and fines of 100 million rupiah ($11,000) for violating
natural resources conservation laws. Poachers often sell tiger body parts to the lucrative traditional Chinese medicine market. There
are fewer than 400 Sumatran tigers left in the wild. Several die each
year as a result of traps, poaching or other human actions.
Source: AFP
