SURABAYA: Indonesia customs at a major port in Indonesia’s second city of Surabaya, where 24 rare birds of paradise were found stuffed in plastic water bottles aboard a passenger vessel yesterday, are coordinating with the authorities at the creatures’ place of origin to tighten security.
Customs officials apprehended the man, named Mulyono, after spotting two bottles with birds inside them. They contained a yellow-crested cockatoo (Cacatua sulphurea) and a green parrot. After interrogating Mulyono and conducting a search, they found 22 more cockatoos.
“Some of the birds were alive, others were half-dead,” Lili Djafar, spokesman for the Tanjung Perak police, told Mongabay-Indonesia. “Possibly because of the five-day trip from Papua and North Maluku and the birds were kept in mineral water bottles.”
Officials are looking into whether any of the ship’s crew was involved. Mulyono, a native of Mojokerto, East Java, admitted to bringing the first two birds – he said he got them from a friend in Ambon, Maluku – but denied any connection with the rest.
It was Tanjung Perak’s third arrest for illegal wildlife smuggling in the past two months. An earlier attempt had seen animals packed into paralon pipes.
According to Lily, the port x-rays items passengers bring aboard with them but does not employ the machines for baggage that goes below deck.
The birds have been placed under the care of the East Java Natural Resources Conservation Agency (BKSDA), which is trying to return them to health.
Rosek Nursahid, founder and chairman of the nonprofit ProFauna, said wildlife smuggling was rampant at Tanjung Perak and called on the authorities to tighten security, especially at common ports of origins for valuable species such as Papua and Maluku.
Rosek also asked the Transportation Ministry to prohibit passengers from carrying any wildlife aboard ships.
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