Editor’s Note
- Teluk Nibung Customs Thwarts Smuggling of Thousands of Illegal Monitor Lizard Skins
- Monkey skins packed in shellfish to evade customs officials
- Perpetrator claims monitor lizard skins were being exported to Malaysia
Teluk Nibung Customs Thwarts Smuggling of Thousands of Illegal Monitor Lizard Skins
Teluk Nibung Customs thwarted an attempt to smuggle 1,984 dried monitor lizard skins into Malaysia through Teluk Nibung on Sunday (February 8).
The perpetrator had hidden the monitor lizard skins in fibers filled with shellfish.
The head of the Enforcement and Investigation Department at Teluk Nibung Customs, Agus Teguh Rodianto, told reporters that the perpetrators had hidden the skins in shellfish fibers to mask the odor.
Monitor lizard skins in Beijing covered with shellfish to evade customs officials
“The goods were deliberately covered with shellfish to mask the smell and avoid suspicion,” Agus Teguh said Tuesday (February 10).
Initial investigations revealed that the thousands of skins lacked quarantine or official transport documents.
Although monitor lizards are not a protected species, the trade in products derived from them still requires licensing procedures.
The perpetrators claim the monitor lizard skins were intended for export to Malaysia.
“Sending animals or their body parts abroad without legal documentation is a violation of the law and can result in criminal penalties. Because they were taken without permission, they are considered illegally taken from the wild,” Agus explained.
The perpetrators intended to transport the monitor lizard skins to Malaysia by export ship.
Their economic value is estimated at tens of millions of rupiah, as monitor lizard skin is often used as raw material for fashion items such as bags and shoes.
“After collecting the data, all evidence was immediately secured and transferred to the Animal, Fish and Plant Quarantine Agency for legal action and further investigation,” he concluded.***
