Two Vietnamese arrested in East Java over smuggling of 3,400 songbirds
Rosek Nursahid, founder of the wildlife conservation organization ProFauna Indonesia said that illegal imports of songbirds from neighboring nations like Vietnam and Malaysia are directly driven by the depletion of Indonesia’s own wild populations after decades of overhunting.
Authorities in East Java have arrested two Vietnamese nationals for allegedly smuggling nearly 3,400 songbirds into Indonesia without proper health certificates or import documentation. The suspects, LVT and LM, were detained during a raid at a warehouse in Kepatihan village, Sidoarjo regency. The head of special crimes investigation, Sr. Comr.
Setyo Kusheriatno, revealed that the two men were following orders from another Vietnamese individual, ALY, who was instructed to guard the warehouse, inspect the birds, keep records of live and dead birds, and provide food and water. The seized birds included Black-throated Laughingthrushes, Chinese Hwameis, and Black-collared Starlings, with 3,233 birds found alive and 161 dead.
The estimated value of the smuggled shipment ranges from Rp 4.8 billion to Rp 9.6 billion on the Indonesian market, based on their selling price between Rp 1.5 million and Rp 3 million per bird.
Written by urgent.news from The Jakarta Post's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
