SANDAKAN: Sabah Marine police on Tuesday foiled an attempt to smuggle 1,000 turtle eggs believed to be for local consumption during a raid at Mile 3, here.
Sabah Fourth Regional Marine Police Commander ACP Mohamad Pajeri Ali said the seizure was made based on intelligence and surveillance.
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“During an inspection at about 3pm, we found a box with black plastic bags containing the smuggled turtle eggs.
“All the 1,000 turtle eggs are worth about RM2,000 and suspected to be smuggled from a neighbouring country before being marketed here,” he said, Tuesday.
However, Pajeri said the boat skipper suspected to be the owner of the turtle eggs jumped into the sea to escape arrest upon realising the arrival of police in the area.
He said all the seizure were taken to the Sandakan Marine Police operation base for documentation process before being hand over to the Wildlife Department here for further action.
The case is being investigated under Wildlife Conservation Enactment 1997.
