Police Nab 8 Hunters for Killing Elephant in Riau

Jakarta Globe, Feb 11, 2015

Ivory can fetch up to $800 a kilogram on the international black market.
(Reuters Photo/Bobby Yip)

Jakarta. The Riau Police on Tuesday arrested eight alleged ivory hunters who are suspected of having shot an elephant to cut off its tusks.

Officers confiscated two two-meter-long pieces of ivory, modified hunting rifles, six 7.6-millimeter bullets, blades and an axe.

The hunters allegedly told the police that they had been hunting for wild boars in the acacia woods of Bengkalis when an elephant walked past them. They proceeded to shoot the animal.

“The suspects are guilty of taking part in an illegal hunt,” Riau Police spokesman Adj. Sr. Comr. Guntur Aryo Tejo told Tempo.co, a news portal.

Police say the ivory is worth approximately Rp 10 million ($780) per kilogram on the international black market.

If found guilty of having violated the 1990 law on natural resources conservation, the hunters could face up to five years in jail and a fine of Rp 200 million.