Probe still on: Lahad Datu OCPD

Kota Kinabalu: The Lahad Datu police are still investigating whether there was any of its personnel have been involved in wildlife poaching in the district.District Police Chief ACP Hamzah Ahmad said investigations are on-going following disclosure on the Internet that a Sarawak Police Field Force personnel attached to it and a staff who works at the Lahad Datu Pos office are among the culprits.

On Feb. 7, five men aged between 16 and 41 were detained for possessing 635kg of wild boar meat and five Common Palm Civets in two separate raids at Km64 along Lahad Datu – Tungku road.

District Wildlife officer, Silvester Saimin, said the seizures were made by the enforcers from the department in a patrol conducted by eight Wildlife Department personnel led by Senior Wildlife Renjer Herman Stawin about 5.00am to 7.30am at Kg Manar.

"During the patrol, our enforcers stopped two 4WD vehicles at 5.07am and 7.30am. Upon inspection on the vehicle, we found 635kg of wild boar meat and five Common Palm Civet.

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"Five men, aged between 16 and 41 were also detained for possessing the items which classified as a protected animal," he said, adding that the seizure was made under Section 41(2) of the Wildlife Conservation Enactment 1997.

It had been reported that the poachers are usually armed with high-powered weapons against the defenceless wildlife and also don army fatigues so as to confuse the public if their images are caught on camera traps. They display violent behaviour and are willing to inflict harm on forest guards.

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The Danau Girang Field Centre had also lamented that poachers and shrinking forest habitats have reduced the Banteng (wild cattle) population to the extent that they are in the same extinction category as the Sumatran Rhinocerous.

"It is incredibly saddening to see the carcasses of animals that we have struggled to research for the past few years, and to continue to witness the ease with which poachers are able to access our supposedly protected forests," said its Director Benoit Goosen.

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