This undated handout photo from Ujung Kulon National Park in 2011 shows a Javan rhino photographed with a hidden camera.
Ujung Kulon National Park
Text Size
Indonesian authorities have arrested a man for attempting to sell elephant tusks and endangered rhino horn through social media.
Illegal wildlife trade remains rife in Indonesia due to lax law enforcement, but the arrested man faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted, the environment ministry said in a statement late Wednesday.
South Sumatra provincial police launched an investigation earlier this year after finding posts on Facebook offering parts of protected wild animals for sale.
The 60-year-old man, identified only by the initials “ZA”, was arrested last week in Palembang, South Sumatra, during a transaction attempting to sell pipes made from rhino horn and ivory.
Police found seven more rhino horns and at least four elephant tusks in his home.
“He appears to be very experienced in the wildlife trade,” the environment ministry said.
In June, police arrested a group of poachers suspected of killing 26 endangered Javan rhinos in Ujung Kulon National Park since 2018.
There were once thousands of them living across Southeast Asia, but they have been hit hard by rampant poaching and human encroachment into their habitat, and according to the Ministry of the Environment, only about 80 remain in the wild.
With fewer than 50 remaining, the Sumatran rhino has been declared critically endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
