Tribratanews.polri.go.id. – Banda Aceh. Five elephant killers in East Aceh were arrested by the Police. The protected animal was found in an oil palm plantation without its head. The elephant was killed by poisoning, and its ivory was taken to sell.
"Yes. Five perpetrators are arrested. One of them initialled JN aka DG (35) who poisoned and cut the animal's throat", the Chief of PR and Press Agency, Police Grand Commissioner Winardy, said on Tuesday, August 17, 2021.
Chief of PR and Press Agency said that the other four perpetrators are the seller and trader of the animal body parts. They are initialled as EM (41), SN (33), JZ (50), and RA (46). One person was declared on the wanted list due to the suspicion of involvement in this criminal act.
"For now, the perpetrators and evidence such as criminal evidence and tools utilised have been detained and seized by the personnel for further investigation", he said.
Chief of PR and Press Agency explained that the perpetrators are subjected to Article 21 paragraph 2 letter a and Article 40 paragraph 2 of Law No. 5 of 1990 about Natural Resource Conservation, in relation to Article 55 of Indonesian Criminal Code.
Previously, this case was exposed after the information from the public on Sunday, July 11, 2021. The male elephant, aged around 12 to 15-year-old, was found dead and headless in the oil palm plantation of Bumi Flora Ltd., Jambo Reuhat village, Banda Alam district, East Aceh Regency, Aceh.
"Criminal Investigation Unit of East Aceh Departmental Police with the Board of Natural Conservation of Aceh then investigate the crime scene and conducting necropsy for further forensic laboratory test to now the protected animal's cause of death", Chief of PR and Press Agency said.
Afterwards, by involving a team from the Central Forensic Laboratory of National Police, Criminal Investigation Unit took the elephant's body organ for DNA checking for investigation purposes.
"After investigation, Operational Team of the Criminal Investigation Unit of East Aceh Departmental Police arrested five perpetrators. One person killed the animal, and four of them trade it", he said.
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