A 24-year old wildlife trader from Sabah has been fined RM50,000 for being in possession of a rare and endangered Sunda clouded leopard, due to an undercover operation by the Sabah Wildlife Department.
Kota Kinabalu Sessions Court judge Ainul Shahrin Mohamad laid out the penalty to Muhd Ridzuan Ibrahim, who will have to serve 12 months in prison should he not pay up the fine.
Ridzuan was arrested for the offence on July 25 in Menggatal.
Following his detention, Ridzuan pleased not guilty to the charge brought up against him under Section 41(1) of Sabah’s Wildlife Conservation Enactment 1997, which carries a maximum penalty of RM50,000 in fines, up to five years in prison, or both, upon conviction.
The Malay Mail Online‘s Julia Chan reports that the Sabah Wildlife Department had spent more than four months hunting down and monitoring Ridzuan, who they believed had traded in wildlife specimens over social media networks.
The Sunda clouded leopard, whose scientific name is neofilis nebulosa, is an endangered species protected fully under the Sabah Wildlife Conservation Enactment 1997. The species can be found in Borneo and the Indonesian island of Sumatra.
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