Indonesian Officials Rescue Hundreds of Endangered Turtles At A Jakarta Airport

Indonesian police have confiscated hundreds of endangered turtles at a Jakarta airport. In total, 687 month-old turtles were successfully recovered before they could be smuggled out of the country.

Awen Supranata, head of Jakarta's conservation agency, reported that the pig-nose turtles had been held at Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta airport since they arrived from the province of Papua on March 15. The sender of the turtles has not yet been identified. Such an offense carries a maximum three-year jail sentence and a fine of 150 million rupiah approximately $14,780) under Indonesian law.

According to quarantine official Teguh Samudro, it is impossible to know what their final destination was, as the address on the package does not exist. Supranata believes they were most likely headed for Europe or an Asian country.

According to Indonesian officials, the turtles will be released back into their natural habitat in Papua soon.

The pig-nose turtle, scientifically classified as the Carettochelys insculpta, are found in the freshwater lagoons and rivers of Australia and Papua New Guinea. They get their colloquial name from their snout-like nose.

They are currently listed under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, an international agreement that places trade restrictions in an effort to protect certain species. Their endangered status is due in large part to illegal animal trade, and hunters seeking their eggs and meat.

In January, four Chinese nationals were arrested in Indonesia for attempting to smuggle hornbill beaks and pangolin scales out of the country. The four were part of an international trafficking syndicate, working in collusion with local Indonesian poachers. The demand for endangered animals for traditional medicinal use in Chinese and other Asian nations drives much of the poaching in Indonesia and surrounding regions.

Indonesian authorities have not revealed if they believe this latest incident is linked at all to previous organized illegal operations, or if it was an unrelated affair.