Maritime authorities managed to thwart would-be bird smugglers operating off Melaka’s waters yesterday afternoon. Unfortunately, upon seeing the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA), the suspects dumped over 300 rare, exotic and endangered birds into the waters.
The Indonesian trio were nabbed in a boat five nautical miles from Tanjung Gabang, at approximately 3:00pm. Authorities were only able to save three birds out of the hundreds dumped. All of the cages used by the men to transport the birds were recovered, with drowned birds inside.
Among the breeds that were found was the near-extinct Javanese chirping bird.
While the suspects had no identifying documents, authorities have been able to piece together that the men sourced the birds from Vietnam, traveling through Thailand, and finally to Malaysia, where they were boarded onto boats. Their final destination was intended to be Indonesia.
In recent years, Malaysia has seen a boom as being used as a transit point for smugglers. Highly prized pangolins are often smuggled to other countries via Malaysia. The country has also been used as an intermediary for illegal ivory hauls, as well as rare birds.
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