Jakarta (Greeners) – Ministry of Environment and Forestry (KLHK) to strengthen cyber patrol working task to tackle illegal plant and animal trading via online.
Rasio Ridho Sani, director general of law enforcement at the ministry, said that cyber patrol working task will monitor, analysis the distribution and trading of protected plants and animals in social media, and arrest the perpetrators.
“For the past three and a half year, illegal trade of plants and animals has been significant in numbers. From 2015, we are dealing with 617 cases, either environment or forest crimes. Related to illegal plants and animals trade, there are more less 200 cases have handed over to the police,” said Sani in Jakarta on Thursday (09/05/2019).
READ ALSO: KLHK Foils Illegal Ivory Trade via Online Worth of 29 Million Dollars
Furthermore, he said that with rapid technology development, security factor is one of the drivers for illegal wildlife trade transform from conventional market to online.
There will be law enforcement, he said, up to arrest on illegal wildlife trade done through Facebook and Instagram.
“We are strengthening law enforcement because Facebook is the platform for market, though its intensity is declining because we do blocking,” he said.
The working task is a cross-institution cooperation between State Intelligence Agency or BIN, Supreme Court, National Police Cyber Crime Team, Ministry of Communication and Information, and directorate general of natural resources conservation and ecosystem.
“This cooperation is needed to tackle activity of plants and animals trade in network which is vastly developing and involves lots of people,” he said.
READ ALSO: Indonesia To Turn To DNA Analysis To Tackle Illegal Wildlife Trade
Currently, the ministry’s law enforcement team successfully foiled illegal elephant ivory trading via online worth of Rp420 billion (US$29 million) in Pati district. They managed to confiscate 200 products, — pipes, rings, bracelets, and necklaces –, made of elephant ivory.
The ministry and Pati police arrested three men, — OF (38 years), CK (44 years), and MHF (31 years) — in Pati district of Central Java.
Report by Dewi Purningsih
21 Apr 2024 
raayann
