Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park Forest Guardian Rapid Reaction Team apprehended a suspect trader of Sumatran elephant ivory, as a result of an investigation on rhino horn trade in Lampung province.
This story begins with information from the community to the Rapid Reaction Team (TRC) whose members consist of forest rangers from the Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park (BB TNBBS), ILEU-Badak Indonesia Foundation (YABI) and the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) that there will be rhino horn for sale. Then the TRC Team immediately traced and deepened the information. From the results of the team’s investigation, it was suspected that the owner of the goods agreed that the items suspected to be the rhino horn were to be brought and displayed in Bandar Lampung before the transaction.
On July 2, 2019, the team succeeded in checking and seeing the items, after getting a picture of the item then the picture was immediately sent to the analysis team to analyze whether the rhino horn was genuine or not. The results of the analysis turned out to be goods that allegedly rhino horn was declared fake. For this reason, the arrest was cancelled.
After that, on July 18, 2019, the team was again contacted by traders to offer elephant ivory. The TRC team immediately coordinated with the Ministry of Environment and Forestry’s Law Enforcement Center which then coordinated with the Lampung provincial police. The joint team then met at the Bengkulu BKSDA SKW III office to arrange an arrest strategy.
Then it was agreed that a team meeting with the informant and the owner of the goods would be held at Begadang V restaurant in Kali Balok Bandar Lampung on July 26, 2019, at 23.30 WIB. When the owner of the goods showed a pair of Sumatran elephant tusks suspected of being female elephants in the name of AC, the joint team immediately made an arrest. The perpetrators along with the evidence were immediately secured at the Bengkulu BKSDA SKW III Office for further legal proceedings. Criminal provisions against perpetrators are Article 21 paragraph (2) letter d Jo Article 40 paragraph (2) of Indonesian Law Number 5 of 1990 concerning the Conservation of the Biodiversity of Natural Resources and Ecosystems.