A Sri Lankan national has been detained at Indonesia’s busiest airport after officers found 101 live birds hidden in his luggage.
The man, identified only by the initials NRRW, was stopped on Saturday at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Banten province, near Jakarta, the Daily Mirror reported. Ada Derana reported that the birds were packed into 15 small boxes inside a suitcase.
Two protected species among them
Duma Sari, head of the Banten Quarantine Office, said a joint search by aviation security, customs and quarantine officers identified two species protected under Indonesia’s natural resources conservation laws: the crimson sunbird (Aethopyga siparaja) and birds of the loriini group, a tribe of small lories and lorikeets.
Other birds in the consignment included sunda minivets, hawfinches, parakeets, broadbills of the eurylaimidae family, and white-eyes of the zosterops genus.
“Crimson sunbird and loriini are among the species protected by Indonesian laws and regulations on natural resources conservation,” Duma Sari said.
The Indonesian Quarantine Office and the Natural Resources Conservation Agency are investigating. The man is alleged to have been attempting to take the birds out of Indonesia.
Context
Indonesia is one of the world’s largest sources of trafficked songbirds, driven by a domestic and regional trade in cage birds and singing competitions. Live birds are routinely moved through airports concealed in boxes, tubes and hand luggage, and survival rates in transit are low.
Neither report says whether the birds survived, where the flight was bound, what charges the man faces, or whether Sri Lankan consular officials have been informed.
The seizure came at the same airport that suspended more than 200 flights on Sunday because of volcanic ash from the Anak Krakatau eruption. The two events are unrelated.
