Jakarta, February 5, 2016. The high number of protected wildlife poaching and trade cases in Aceh is urgent to be addressed. As a prevention effort, WWF Indonesia and the Aceh Regional Police (Polda) signed a memorandum of understanding to optimize law enforcement against protected wildlife crime.

As an illustration, in 2014 the Aceh Police handled seven cases of protected wildlife crime with 20 suspects and three cases in 2015 with 8 suspects. The majority of these cases involved the arrest of traders of Sumatran Tigers in the form of skins, bones and more, as well as the killing of elephants and the trade of live Orangutans.

Evidence of the seriousness of the Aceh Police to eradicate protected wildlife crime is also evidenced by the opening of a complaint channel for anyone in Aceh who knows or sees protected wildlife crime, the complaint can be sent via sms to 08116771010.

After the signing of the MoU, Dr. Efransjah said that the trade in protected wildlife is huge, it is number five in the world after the trade in drugs, humans and firearms, and has even entered the realm of financing for terrorism. "We must protect iconic animals in Aceh such as Sumatran tigers, orangutans, rhinos and elephants so that our children and grandchildren can still see and study these animals in the future," said Efransjah. In this agreement, WWF Indonesia agreed to assist in the process of DNA identification, forensics and other information.

In his remarks, Aceh Police Chief Inspector General Drs M Hussein Hamdi, said that wildlife trade is not only through conventional trade, which brings together sellers and buyers, but also through social media.""Wildlife crime is one of the high incidence cases, such as the recent arrest of traders of clouded leopards, bondol eagles, kingfishers and Sumatran orangutans conducted through social media," he said.

The signing of the memorandum of understanding in Jakarta was attended by Deputy Chief of Police of Aceh Brigadier General of Police Drs Rio S Djambak, Chief of Police of North Sumatra, Inspector General of Police Drs. Ngadino, SH, MM, Director of the Directorate of Criminal Investigation of POLRI Commissioner Joko Irwanto. Also present were the Director of Criminal Law Enforcement of the Ministry of Forestry and Environment, and the Head of the Gunung Leuser National Park. It is hoped that with this understanding the death rate of protected animals, especially in the Aceh region, can decrease.

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More information:

Diah R. Sulistiowati, Forest & Terrestrial Species Campaign Coordinator
dsulistiowati@wwf.or.id 0811 1004 397

Chik Rini, Communication Officer for Banda Aceh Program
crini@wwf.or.id 0811 6803 191