JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesian authorities said Wednesday they have arrested six suspects in an international poaching operation targeting the Javan rhino, a critically endangered species.
The suspects are part of a network that has used homemade firearms to kill at least 26 Javan rhinos to obtain their horns since 2018. The horns are in high demand in Asia, where they are mainly used in traditional Chinese medicine and increasingly for making jewelry, said Abdul Karim, chief of Banten’s provincial police.
He said the six men were arrested last month in a joint operation by police and the Ministry of Forestry and Environment. One of the syndicate’s leaders, Sunendi, was arrested last year and sentenced to 12 years in prison and a 100 million rupiah ($6,135) fine.
Police and a team of rangers from Ujung Kulon National Park in Banten were searching for eight other members of the syndicate, officials said.
Karim said research has shown that Sunendi, who like many Indonesians uses a single name, and nine others have killed 22 Javan rhinos since 2018, while another group has killed another four since 2021. They sold the horns to Chinese buyers through a local handler. who is currently on trial.
Police seized homemade firearms, bullets, gunpowder, a steel sling noose and other equipment used to poach rhinos.
Rasio Ridho Sani, head of law enforcement at the Ministry of Forestry and Environment, said the population of the Javan rhino is declining and only about 80 adult animals remain, most of them in the Ujung Kulon National Park in the western part of the main Java island of Indonesia. They are threatened by the destruction of tropical forests and by poachers, he said.
“Poaching of protected animals is a serious crime and is of international concern,” Sani said. “We are working closely with the Banten Regional Police to track down and arrest the perpetrators of animal poaching who managed to escape during the operation.”
