PEKANBARU-(MaraviPost)-The police in Indonesia are keeping in custody two men who are suspected of smuggling lions, leopard cubs and dozens of turtles.
According to Andri Sudarmadi, Riau police’s chief detective, two men are part of an international trafficking syndicate. One of the two men has been identified as Yatno and he led police to capture another suspect who was planning to sell the smuggled wildlife to a trader on Java island.
Yatno was arrested when he was picking up suspicious boxes from a speedboat at a port in Dumai district, Pekanbaru. Police confiscated several boxes containing four lion cubs, a leopard cub and 58 turtles from his van. Each cub is estimated to cost about $32,000 on the black market, while the turtles fetch $1,200 apiece,
If found guilty, the two will face up to five years in jail and $7,000 in fines for attempting to smuggle wildlife.
