Kota Kinabalu: State Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Christina Liew is happy with the progress of the INL (International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs) Project: Boosting enforcement and forensic capacity to deter wildlife trafficking in Sabah (2019-2023).
She said Danau Girang Field Centre (DGFC), a research institute in Kinabatangan, and the Sabah Wildlife Department (SWD) were awarded funds by the US Government to reduce wildlife trade and improve arrest rates, and the quality of prosecution of wildlife crimes in Sabah by building investigative and enforcement capacity within the SWD.
She noted that this was being achieved through the development of specialised teams that will work closely with relevant agencies and stakeholders; generation and dissemination of key intelligence information; and the handling and processing of wildlife DNA evidence to expedite the resolution of wildlife crime cases.
“The INL pilot project has produced the desired results. Notably, it has established specialised teams in the SWD for intelligence and forensic work. I was informed by the Director of Sabah Wildlife Department (SWD) that since 2019, there has been no more killing of elephants and marine turtles.
“And under their training programme, they have established an Intelligence Unit (IU) and a Forensic Unit (FU) which has groomed two young lady officers - Natalia Nadia Yahya and Nur Alwanie Maruji - to head the IU and FU in the SWD, respectively,” Liew said in a statement on Wednesday, after a courtesy call by Grant Officer Representative Allison Lajeskie (Counter Wildlife Trafficking Southeast Asia and Pacific) from the U.S. Department of State Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs Office of Global Programs and Policy in Washington, DC on Tuesday.
Briefing the Minister, Lajeskie said the purpose of her five-day visit to Sabah was to meet with people to better understand the realities on the ground with regard to wildlife trafficking, and also to see the progress of the INL support through the DGFC.
“It was great and such an honour to have this opportunity to meet with the Minister and talk about poaching and wildlife trafficking issues in Sabah. It’s so important. I really commend what DGFC has done on the project.
They really created so much from the ground level to be able to offer what is beneficial for Sabah. We are here to help,” she said before returning to the US via Kuala Lumpur, after the courtesy call.
In her presentation, Scientific Adviser and Project Coordinator Dr Milena Salgado Lynn, who is based at the DGFC, enlightened the Minister on the activities progress of the INL Project.
These include two workshops, 31 training sessions (60+ trainees), 300+ investigation reports, 20+ long-term investigations, 10+ arrests and two convictions.
“We have also created a wildlife crime database at the Sabah Wildlife Department (SWD), and that may be accessible to other wildlife-related agencies in Sabah, Sarawak and the Peninsula.
To enhance inter-agency cooperation, we have established an inter-agency intelligence working group which has been jointly trained,” she said.
According to Dr Lynn, poaching and other wildlife-related illegal activities in Sabah prompted the DGFC and SWD to apply for a US Government grant for the INL Project five years ago.
Confirming the wildlife-related convictions, Director of SWD Augustine Tuuga, who has been the department’s prosecuting officer for 20 years, said a four-year jail sentence was meted out to an Indonesian man in 2021 for killing an endangered Borneo pygmy elephant in Tawau in 2019, while a foreign national was jailed four years and fined RM200,000 for possessing the body parts of green turtles in Semporna in 2022.
Tuuga’s last task as prosecuting officer was in 2016 when a local man was fined RM25,000 or 36 months’ jail for having live pangolins as well as pangolin scales in Lahad Datu. “Presently, I am only mentoring and guiding our prosecuting officers for them to enhance their knowledge and skills.”
Also present were Tuuga, the Ministry’s Senior Principal Assistant Secretary Murad Abdul Rashid, and the Director of DGFC Dr Benoit Goossens.
