Authorities gets tough on wildlife criminals - bust exotic food joints, smuggling syndicates
KUALA LUMPUR - The police have detected the existence of exotic restaurants and eateries that offer wild animal meat dishes.
Police Inspector-General Tan Sri Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani said investigations found activities involving certain individuals who sourced wild animal meat from the Orang Asli community and local residents by offering high prices.
He said these exotic food operators hide from law enforcements by obtaining a wildlife business license, however, it was illegal to serve wild animals such as bear and crocodile meat for consumption.
"There are also exotic food shops that offer wild animal dishes to selected customers only.
"Customers need to order in advance via phone or WhatsApp," he told Sinar.
He said the police also detected elephant hunting activities to get their tusks to be marketed in Thailand.
Acryl Sani said foreigners from Thailand, Vietnam or Myanmar who entered the country were also illegally hunting large animals such as tigers.
He said the tiger carcasses would be buried in the ground for a long period of time until they decompose in a bid to obtain their bones, teeth and skulls before being smuggled via land.
"There are also foreigners who entered the country legally using passports and entered the forest reserve to hunt illegally and look for agarwood," he added.
The top cop said similar activities were also happening in the Royal Belum Forest Reserve in Gerik, Perak, where foreigners were involved in hunting animals.
These foreign hunters, he said, were protected by the middlemen who were also local residents.
Acryl Sani said the police together with the Wildlife Protection and National Parks Department (Perhilitan), the Royal Malaysian Customs Department, the Peninsular Malaysia Forestry Department and other government agencies will undertake more drastic measures to arrest wildlife criminals.
"The establishment of the Wildlife Crime Control Bureau (WCB) under the police with 50 new positions approved last July will be involved in the investigation of wildlife crime.
"For the long term, WCB will not only focus on crimes involving organised syndicates that are active inside and outside the country, but also focus on police’s efforts to protect the country's flora and fauna treasures," he said.
Meanwhile, Customs through Operation Bersepadu Khazanah (OBK) from 2019 to last July succeeded in confiscating various wildlife species worth RM195 million.
Customs Director-General Datuk Zazuli Johan said the operation was a step to strengthen the enforcement of national border control to curb wildlife smuggling activities.
He said among the successes recorded was the seizure of more than 65 tonnes of mahogany, six tons of pangolin scales, 4,500 magpies and more than 6,000 turtles of various species.
He said that one of the major success factors was the follow-up to the Border Management Coordination approach that had been widely practiced.
"Officers were also trained to act as the first line of defence to detect high-risk merchandise," he said.
