KOTA KINABALU, Oct 2 — Authorities here arrested a fisherman and said today they are looking for other perpetrators of a multiple turtle slaughter on Sabah’s east coast that has enraged conservationists worldwide.
Sabah Wildlife Department director Augustine Tuuga said that they have arrested a 60-year-old nomadic fisherman in Kg Pantau-Pantau on Bum-Bum island off Semporna in connection with the turtle poaching.
He is being remanded for five days for investigation.
“Meanwhile, the department is continuing the search for the other identified suspects in the days to come. The search is to cover several islands in Semporna waters,” he said here today.
The incident first came to light when photos of about eight gutted turtle carcasses with their plastron, or undershell removed, were circulating on social media.
While authorities investigated, about 100 or more fragments from turtle skeletons were found on the island, believed to be the work of nomadic fishermen who frequent the area and sell the shells, flesh and eggs of the turtles.
The case has also caught the attention of global marine conservationist Paul Watson, better known as the founder of the Sea Shepard Conservation Society, who has condemned the culprits and offered a US$5,000 (RM21,170) reward for information leading to the arrests of the culprits.
Meanwhile, more dead turtles have emerged — this time near the popular diving island of Mabul — on Saturday night. The seven turtle carcasses appear to be in similar butchered state.
“We are trying to investigate whether the turtles were killed there or whether the carcasses had drifted from another location,” said Tuuga.
He also said that the department were narrowing their search on the poaching of an elephant in Kinabatangan, having gathered information from the public.
“Several suspects have been identified,” he said.
Authorities are also searching for the original crime scene both from along the Kinabatangan river where the elephant was believed to have been dumped after its tusks were sawn off.
“We have searched the river banks by boat and on land by car along Sungai Koyah near the site where the elephant carcass was found floating. We didn’t detect any sign of elephant footprint which means that the elephant did not come from the area,” he said.
Elephants in Borneo are dwindling in numbers under the threat of deforestation as well as human conflict. They are also hunted for their ivory which has high value in black markets worldwide and are also used as dowries in some parts of Indonesia.
