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KUALA LUMPUR: An additional 13 charges against four individuals, caught with over 1,000 animal parts, including 397 bear claws near Taman Negara in Pahang last year, highlight the importance of enhanced enforcement around the country's biodiversity hotspots, says a wildlife trade monitoring group.
Traffic director in Southeast Asia, Kanitha Krishnasamy, stated the group was causing significant harm in a targeted area.
"The parts they possessed equaled dozens of leopards, bears, and tigers. We hope for strong prosecution outcomes to convey that such crimes are not tolerated," she said in a statement on Wednesday (July 31).
In response to a query from The Star, Kanitha said that through the collective work of various agencies under Ops Bersepadu Khazanah since 2019 and the Wildlife and National Parks Department's (Perhilitan) long-standing anti-poaching efforts, authorities have identified hundreds of poaching hotspots throughout the peninsula and continue to update this information.
"Efforts are already focused on those identified areas, supported by information from many conservation NGOs working on the ground.
"This focused work is part of the reason why they were able to track down the group found with the 1,005 parts. This is partly why we urge the government to continue investing in and supporting enforcement and protection efforts," she said.
The scale of the seizure in this case has been described by Traffic as "particularly shocking".
Besides the bear claws, wildlife parts in the seizure from a house in Panching, Pahang in November also included those from iconic and endangered species such as the leopard (Panthera pardus), pangolin (Manis javanica), tiger (Panthera tigris), clouded leopard (Neofelis nebulosa), serow (Capricornis sumatraensis), Asian golden cat (Catopuma temminckii), and elephant (Elephas maximus).
Ten out of the two dozen wildlife species seized are Totally Protected, with seven falling under a specific section of the Act (Schedule 10), carrying the highest penalties and compulsory imprisonment for wildlife offences.
Four people – three Vietnamese nationals and one Malaysian – were apprehended and brought to court for charges under the Wildlife Conservation Act 2010.
When the case first broke, Perhilitan director-general Datuk Abdul Kadir Abu Hashim said the group was caught due to a special integrated operation against illegal hunting involving the Perhilitan Special Tactical Team (Sparta) and Royal Malaysian Police 69 Commando members.
The Vietnamese nationals, aged in their 40s and 50s, entered the country legally.
Initially, the group faced two counts of possession of snares and pangolin parts, but last month, upon completion of investigations and forensic testing, 13 more charges were brought against them.
The 4,343 square kilometre Taman Negara and its surrounding areas are among the last remaining safe havens of the critically endangered Malayan tiger and other species.
It has been the focus of increased patrolling and surveillance for poaching and illegal trade, especially through a joint enforcement taskforce, Ops Bersepadu Khazanah, since 2019.
The discovery and disruption of this group, said Kanitha in a statement, would not have been possible without dedicated long-term investment in investigations and inter-agency collaboration.
"It’s imperative that resources continue to be invested to support efforts here," she said.
According to Traffic data, there have been at least 28 known seizure incidents involving wild animals within a 30-km radius of Taman Negara in the past five years, leading to at least 74 arrests.
Most recently, a Vietnamese poacher was caught inside the park with 54 leopard parts, weapons, and tools, and was sentenced to 6 years in prison.
Over the years, heightened enforcement scrutiny around this national park has uncovered a persistent wildlife poaching and trafficking threat, said Traffic.
On June 25, enforcers from the same taskforce seized parts of a tiger from two locations in the town of Rompin.
The six suspects arrested in the case have claimed trial to one charge under the Wildlife Conservation Act 2010.
