KUCHING, Sept 26 — The Sessions Court here fined two students of Chinese nationality a total of RM9,000 each in default six months jail for possessing devices for capturing animals, releasing animals and attempting to remove animals from Bako National Park without permission.

Zhu Sukai, 18, and Yu Jiashu, 21, each made the plea to the three charges before Judge Musli Ab Hamid, who imposed a fine of RM3,000 in default two months jail for each charge.

For the first charge, the duo was charged under Section 26(b) of the National Parks and Nature Reserves Ordinance 1998 and are punishable under Section 32(a) and 31 of the National Parks and Nature Reserves Ordinance 1998, read with Section 34 of the Penal Code, for possessing contrivances of any kind with intention to take or capture any animals in the Bako National Park.

For the second charge, they were charged for introducing animals into the national park under Section 26(e) of the National Parks and Nature Reserves Ordinance 1998 and punishable under Section 32(a) and 31 of the National Parks and Nature Reserves Ordinance 1998 read with Section 34 of the Penal Code.

Their third charge was for attempting to remove animals or plants, whether dead or alive, from the park under Section 26(f) of the National Parks and Nature Reserves Ordinance 1998 read together with Sections 34 and 511 of the Penal Code and punishable under Section 32(a) and 31 of the National parks and Nature Reserves Ordinance 1998.

They committed these offences at the Bako National Park here at around 2.01pm on September 21.

Based on the facts of the case, a team of park rangers from the Sarawak Forestry Corporation detained Zhu and Yu, who were acting suspiciously upon entering the national park.

Upon being queried, they found the duo were tourists of Chinese nationals and were caught carrying suspicious large backpacks.

Further investigation revealed they carried two insects belonging to the scorpion and beetle species, both of which were kept amongst items found inside their backpacks.

They also possessed some digging tools and laboratory field equipment such as tongs, specimen collection plastic tubes or jars, Vernier calipers and others.

The duo also failed to show proof of valid permission to enter the Bako National Park from the Controller of National Parks and Nature Reserves to conduct any specimen collection or removal.

The case was prosecuted by SFC prosecuting officer Arvin Khan while Zhu and Yu were unrepresented by legal counsel. — Borneo Post