Thursday February 16, 2012

Trader pleads not guilty to keeping wildlife parts

ALOR SETAR: A trader pleaded not guilty at the Sessions Court here to four counts of keeping parts of protected animals, including tiger skin and bones, elephant tusks and a horn of a barking deer.

Mohd Nor Sharmizam Nasir, 29, from Kg Sungai Dedap, Kota Sarang Semut here, is charged with committing the offences at his house on Feb 10 at about 3.15am.

He claimed trial to keeping eight pieces of tiger skin, 22 tiger bones, including skulls, nine African elephant tusks and one barking deer (Muntiacus muntjak) horn.

For the first two charges of keeping tiger skin and bones, he is charged under Section 68(2)(c) of the Wildlife Conservation Act 2010, which carries a fine of not less than RM100,000 and not more than RM500,000 and a jail term of up to five years for each offence.

Cruel business: Kedah Wildlife Department officers arranging pieces of seized tiger skin at the department’s Freshwater Turtles Conservation Centre in Bukit Pinang, Kedah, yesterday.

For the third charge of keeping elephant tusks, he is charged under Section 68(1)(b) of the Act, which carries a fine of not more than RM100,000 or jail term of not more than three years, or both.

As for the horn, Mohd Nor Sharmizam is charged under Section 60(1)(b), which carries a fine of not more than RM50,000 or jail of up to two years, or both.

Sessions Court judge Mohd Rosli Osman set bail at RM40,000 for the first charge and RM10,000 each for the other charges.

He fixed March 18 for mention.

At press time, Mohd Nor Sharmizam has yet to raise bail.

News

Thursday February 16, 2012

Trader pleads not guilty to keeping wildlife parts